Extracorporeal Medical Textiles

1 Extracorporeal Medical Textiles Apparel, Linen, and Care 

Textile products are used in hospitals and nursing homes in the fields of apparel, bedclothes, and care in combination with medical machines (coverings for X-ray apparatus, and so on) for which the highest hygienic standards may be considered. 

Bed linen, mattresses, and quilts for the hospital sector must meet special requirements. They must be hygienic, that is, they must be easy to disinfect. For this purpose, they are often flnished with antibacterial substances. In addition, they must retain their soft texture even after long usage. They should also prevent patients from getting bedsores. 

Materials for wound coverings of piasters are nonwovens made of viscose and polypropylene fibers. They are applied on a cotton fabric equipped with an adhesive film. 

Capillary membranes (microporous hollow fibers) are an integral part of artificial lungs and kidneys. They represent extracorporeal applications where both the fibers and the textile structure are in direct contact with biood. For hemodialysis, mainly fibers made from cellulose, polysulfone, polymethylmethacrylate, and polyacrylonitrile are used. In oxygenators, mainly microporous hollow fibers made from polymethylpentene and silicone are used. Microporous hollow fibers can be 

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Medical textiles embrace all those textile materials used for medical devices in health and hygiene plications in both the consumer and medical markets, thus comprising a group of products with considerable variations in terms of product performance and unit value. Categories of medical textiles include non-implantable materials, implantable materials, healthcare and hygiene products, and extracorporeal devices. The application of different fibres for fabricating medical textiles for medical devices is illustrated in Tables 1-3, which focus on non-implantables, implantables, and healthcare/hygiene, respectively. 

Examples of medical textiles used in extracorporeal medical devices include the use of hollow fibres and membranes (made om polyester, polypropylene, silicone, viscose) for production of bioartificial organs, such as the kidneys, liver and lungs. 

Medical textile products can be divided into four groups depending upon the usage healthcare and hygiene products, extracorporeal devices, implantable materials, and nonimplantable materials. 

As the basic component of medical textile materials, the structures and properties of the constituent polymers have a significant effect on the biodegradability, biocompatibility, absorbency, antimicrobial property, and other functional performances of the final medical textile products. Functional modifications of polymers have far-reaching effects on the fibers, yams, fabrics, and textile materials that are processed in a series of downstream operations. In order to generate the desired product performance characteristics for their diverse applications such as hygiene, protection, therapeutic, nonimplantable or implantable materials, extracorporeal devices, etc., the chemical and physical structures of the relevant polymers should be engineered to suit their required specifications. 

Housings for extracorporeal devices (acrylics, poly(carbonates), poly(methylpentane)], catheters, angioplasty balloons, sutures, vascular grafts (polyester textiles, expanded PTFE), medical tubing oxygenator and hemdi-alysis membranes... 

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