Implantable textiles sutures

High performance implantable textiles include implants, grafts, sutures, prosthetics and medical devices. The human body is an extremely well-designed and constructed structure, surpassing any machine that man has thus far been able to make. Its complex system and organisation is governed by an... 

Surgical textiles Non-implantable textiles Implantable textiles Wound dressings, plaster casts, bandages, external fracture fixation systems, etc. Sutures, vascular grafts, ligament and tendon prostheses, bone plates, heart valves, hernia patches, joint replacements, artificial skin, etc. 

Health Safety. PET fibers pose no health risk to humans or animals. Eibers have been used extensively iu textiles with no adverse physiological effects from prolonged skin contact. PET has been approved by the U.S. Eood and Dmg Administration for food packagiug and botties. PET is considered biologically iuert and has been widely used iu medical iaserts such as vascular implants and artificial blood vessels, artificial bone, and eye sutures (19). Other polyester homopolymers including polylactide and polyglycoHde are used iu resorbable sutures (19,47). 

Lactic acid is an important chemical that has wide applications in food, pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and chemical industries. There are increasing interests in production of lactate esters and biodegradable polylactic acid (PLA) from lactic acid. Lactate esters are a relatively new family of solvents with specific properties. They are considered safe and are biodegradable (1). In many situations they can replace toxic solvents. Their functions vary from that of intermediates in chemical reactions to solvents in ink formulations and cleaning applications (2). PLA has been widely used in medical implants, sutures, and drug-delivery systems because of its capacity to dissolve over time (3-5). PLA also can be used in products such as plant pots, disposable diapers, and textile fabrics. 

Specialty polymers achieve very high performance and find limited but critical use in aerospace composites, in electronic industries, as membranes for gas and liquid separations, as fire-retardant textile fabrics for firefighters and race-car drivers, and for biomedical applications (as sutures and surgical implants). The most important class of specialty plastics is polyimides. Other specialty polymers include polyetherimide, poly(amide-imide), polybismaleimides, ionic polymers, polyphosphazenes, poly(aryl ether ketones), polyarylates and related aromatic polyesters, and ultrahigh-molecular-weight polyethylene (Fig. 14.9). 

Because textile materials are lightweight, flexible and strong polymers and biological tissues are themselves fibrous polymers, with very similar dimensional, physical and mechanical properties, they have found numerous applications as bioimplants. From their use as sutures and ligatures many thousands of years ago, to hernia repair meshes and vascular grafts in the present century, textiles continue to be explored for use in newer and better performing medical products. The currently available implants can be categorized as one-, two- or three-dimensional structures. 

Technical textiles have a wide range of medical applications, from wound dressings and sutures to implants and tissue scaffolds. This book offers a systematic review of the manufacture, properties, and applications of these technical textiles. 

After a brief introduction to the human body, the book gives an overview of medical textile products and the processes used to manufacture them. Subsequent chapters cover superabsorbent textiles, functional wound dressings, bandages, sutures, implants, and other important medical textile technologies in detail. Biocompatibility testing and regulatory control are then addressed, and the book finishes with a review of research and development strategy for medical textile products. 

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