Abstract: A new kind of medical sponges,ionic polyvinyl alcohol sponges(i-PVA sponges)were prepared by surface-grafting of acrylic acid onto acetal-PVA sponges.i-PVA sponges obtained show excellent hydrophilicity and water-absorption.The i-PVA sponges are three dimentional porous network.Because there are great amount of carboxyl and sodium carboxylate groups on PVA molecule chains,the speed of water absorption and water-absorptivity is >2.9mm/s and >15 times respectively.That is,in the case of the cataract-extraction,the polyion-modified sponges much more advantageous than any traditional nonionic polymer sponges.

Key words: ionic polyvinyl alcohol sponges, water-absorption, three dimentional porous network, cataract-extraction