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An important and growing part of the textile industry is the medical and related health care and hygiene sector. The extent of the growth is due to constant improvements and innovations in both textile technology and medical procedures. The aim of this presentation is to highlight the specific medical and surgical applications for which textile materials are currently used. A variety of products and their properties that make them suitable for these applications will be discus
Textile materials and products that have been engineered to meet particular needs are suitable for any medical and surgical application where a combination of strength, flexibility and sometimes moisture and air permeability are required. Materials used include mono filament and multi filament yarns, woven, knitted and non -woven fabrics and composite structures .The number of applications are huge and diverse, ranging from a simple thread suture to the complex composite structures for bone replacement and from the simple cleaning wipe to barrier fabrics used in operating rooms .
These materials can be categorized into four separate and specialized areas of application as follows:
- No implantable materials –wound dressing, bandages, plasters etc.
- Extra-corporeal devices-artificial kidney, liver and lung.
- Implantable materials-sutures, vascular grafts, artificial ligaments, artificial joints etc.
- Health-care/hygiene products-bedding, clothing, surgical gowns, cloths, wipes etc.
The majority of the healthcare products manufactures worldwide are disposable, while the remainder can be reused. According to a survey in the USA during the decade 1980-1990, the growth of medical textile products occurred at a compound annual rate of 11%. It is estimated that the annual growth was around 10% during 1991-2000.
In Western Europe the usage of non-woven medical products between 1970 and 1994 raised 3000 tones to 19700 tones. The medical product sales of textile-based items in the USA amounted to $11.3 billion in 1980 and $32.1 billion in 1990. This figure is expected to have reached a staggering $76 billion by the year 2000.The US market for disposable healthcare products alone was estimated to rise from $1.5 billion in 1990 to $2.6 billion in 1999.In Europe, 100000 tones of fiber ,a growth rate of 3-4% per year and a market of USS7 billion.
Although textile materials have been widely adopted in medical and surgical applications for many years, new uses are still being found .Research utilizing new and exiting fibers and fabric-forming techniques has led to the advancement of medical and surgical textiles. At the forefront of these developments are the fiber manufactures that produce a variety of fibers whose properties govern the product and the ultimate application, whether the requirement is absorbency, tenacity, flexibility, softness, or biodegradability. A number of reviews concerning textile materials for medical application have also been reported elsewhere.
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