Medical Textiles & Its Rising Demand in 2021 [Detailed Guide]

Why do you think medical textiles are essential? Could it be that the utilization of medical textiles keeps on developing at an astonishing rate? Or could it be that all the material that is being made and assembled ends up playing a crucial role in some medical textiles application? Well, let’s read further to find out! 

Medical Textiles are fiber-based products manufactured for hygiene, healthiness and personal care, and surgical use. It simply gives away the fact that the Medical Textile market is pretty big and consists of various goods of different shapes and sizes and sorting. 

Let’s find what they exactly are, what purpose they serve and how helpful medical textiles are. 

What is Medical Textile?

Blend of textile innovation and clinical sciences has come about into another field called ‘Medical Textiles’. New spaces of use for these materials have been related to advancing new strands and assembling innovations for yarns and textures. Advancement in textiles, either characteristic or synthetic materials, ordinarily focused on improving and providing solace to the patients. Improvement of Medical Textiles can be considered one such turn of events, which is genuinely implied for changing patients’ long agonizing periods into safe and secure days.

Essential Elements Required For Medical Textile: 

Features of Materials Used For Medical Use:

When looking for Biomedical Polymers, you should make sure of the following features: 

– Durable 

– Non-toxic 

– Non-allergic

– Sterilisable 

– Elastic 

– Bio-compatible 

– Strength

– Mechanical Properties

What Are The Requirements of Medical Textiles?

Subject to application, the essential requirements of Medical Textiles are as follows:

• Softness 
•  Flexible 
•  Tenacity
• Absorbent 
•  Bio-stability
• Biodegradable

The Applications of Materials in the Medical field 

You know how the materials in textiles later made of use in medicine are yarn, cotton, fibers, and other fabrics. Various materials are used for multiple purposes, as stated below:

Cotton	Uniforms, Beddings and Sheets, Pillow covers, Surgical gowns, and hosiery
Glass	Caps mask
Elastomeric	Surgical hosiery
Viscose	Caps, Masks, Wipes
Polyamide	Surgical hosiery
Polypropylene	Protective clothing
Polyester	Blankets, Gowns for doctors as well as patients, Masks, Coverstock, Surgical Cover, and drapes.
Polyethylene	Drapes and Surgical covers.

Classification of Medical Textiles:

Various materials are used in medical textiles, and upon their usage, they are classified according to the following: 

– Hygiene and Healthcare products:  

When we think about textile and Medical together, we automatically understand how healthcare and hygiene need to be hand in hand. We are aware of how products available for healthcare and hygiene are pretty vast in number and are used to maintain a safe and hygienic environment, especially in the OR and the hospital wards for patients, doctors, and staff. These products can be both washed as well as disposed of. 

a. How medical textiles are used in Operational Theatre: 

• Surgical gowns are essential parts of keeping an OR clean and preventing infections and diseases. These gowns act as a barrier between pollutants and patients. 
• Surgical gowns are made up of various materials, such as woven and non-woven. Woven cotton gowns are also better options as they prevent patients from getting contaminated. 
• Surgical masks, caps, and cover clothes should be lightweight and non-allergic. Cover clothes should be water-resistant against bacteria and germs and should absorb any sweat from a patient’s body and wound secretion. 

b. Usage of Medical textiles in Hospital Wards: 

In hospital wards, products need to be hospital-environmental friendly. To prevent cross-infection, one can use different materials such as the traditional woolen blankets to be easily replaced by Leno woven blankets as it’s hospital environment-friendly. Having clothes and wipes made from tissue paper or non-woven bonded fabrics helps in other processes such as catering to a patient’s wounds as they can quickly be soaked in antiseptics and are pretty safe on wounds. 

Did you know that fibers absorb up to fifty times their mass of water compared to cotton linter, the reason why fibers are most likely to opt-in hospitals?

Let’s read further to find out how medical textiles are made of use internally by-products that are made extra-corporeally

 -Extracorporeal products:

Extracorporeal devices are mounted to support vital organs in functioning, such as artificial kidneys and liver and the mechanical lungs. These devices help in purifying blood. The function and performance of these extracorporeal devices benefit from both fiber and textile technology. 

a. Artificial kidney: 

These tiny instruments are made out of cellulose fibers or polyester fibers. 

b. Mechanical Lungs: 

These are made with Silicone membranes hollow and even out of polypropylene fibers; these mechanical lungs flush out carbon dioxide from the blood and provide a fresh supply of oxygen inside the body. 

From the above, you probably understand how medical textiles have progressed and how important they are outside our body as a protectant and inside our body in organ care.

At this point, you are probably thinking about how did Medical textile took place and what triggered its demand; well, you keep scrolling to find out how its demand increase. 

Reasons for Growth in Medical Textiles: 

Over the years and with the advancement in technology in all fields of life, medicine has also become more advanced than previously. This advancement led to more work areas opening up, hence the formation of Medical Textiles. 

One of the few reasons for the increase in demand is

•  Physical Activities such as football and cricket 
•  Accidents of transportation 
•  Changes in Society such as the risk of civilization 
•  Increment in diseases 
•  Change of circumstances, such as fire and cold 
•  Protecting and increasing the lifespan 
• Change in Population sizes 

These circumstances have resulted in the progression of research and studies in the field of textiles and medical polymers all around the globe.

Advancement in Various Techniques: 

With time, one of the most popular and growing techniques in Medical textiles is the Nano-technique. 

This has skyrocketed, which has resulted in various inventions and innovations on its basis such as 

a. Nano-coated materials 

Nano-coating materials are those materials that have a ceramic coating and replace all sorts of dry particles, water-oil as well as dirt. Did you know that these nano-coating materials are bacteria resistant? Well, they are! 

b. Nanofiber-based materials 

Did you know that with the pandemic that hit us in 2019, Nanofibers’ usage made the masks more comfortable and breathable? These make good filters too and are certified and said to filter approximately 95% airborne particles; how good is that? 

This technology has helped quite a lot in the previous and present years. 

Nanofibers are generated from different polymers, and they consist of quite other properties and are hence applied in various forms and materials. 

Nanofibers have quite a few techniques and commercial usages, such as engineering tissues and cancer diagnosis.

Tissue Engineering is a process that helps in cell growth and regenerates tissues inside our body. Nanofibers play the role of mimicking the natural matrix of the bones, and these are placed in a way that helps in activating the regeneration process. Not only this, but tissue regeneration is not only used in bones, but it could be used to regenerate tissues in ligaments, blood vessels, skin, and cartilage.

In cancer diagnosis, CTCs are a way to predict the stage of Cancer; it includes Nanofiber polymers that undergo various temperature-dependent changes that capture and then release CTCs that help in the diagnosis of Cancer. 

You probably know now how beneficial these different advancements and techniques are.

Medical Textiles Examples:

Various examples of medical textiles found in today’s world are: 

• Artificial Cornea 
• Contact lenses 
• Artificial Joints and bones 
• Artificial liver and kidneys 
• Mechanical lungs 
• Artificial ligaments 
• Heart Valves

Bottom line: 

After reading all of this, one gets a perfect idea of how medical textiles are utilized and where they are utilized. This field’s progression is quite vast considering what we have just found above; they play a prominent role in quite a few things. How innovative!

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