Have you ever been concerned about the unsung heroes reshaping our healthcare field? Medical Textiles, or Medtech, is doing the honor.

All fiber-based products and textile structures used in medical applications, like plasters, orthopedic belts, wound sutures, or tissue engineering, are called medical textiles.

Whether we talk about simple cleaning wipes, complex composite structures for bone replacement, or unique structures to repair body tissue, medical textiles will always be at the forefront of the healthcare sector.

Classification of Medical Textiles:

1. Non-Implantable Medical Textiles:

Non-implantable textiles are used for external applications on the body. Our everyday invisible warriors, such as bandages, gauze, plasters, and wound care products, are examples of non-implantable textiles. Compression garments, orthopedic belts, and biodegradable sutures are also examples.

2. Implantable medical textiles:

Implantable textiles are materials used to repair the body internally. They include artificial ligaments, skin, bones and joints, cardiovascular implants, and more. Implantable textiles are also used to substitute damaged organs and tissues and replace arteries, joints, and structures. 

3. Health Care & Hygiene Products:

Hospitals use healthcare and hygiene products, such as surgical gowns and caps, to ensure the safety of patients and staff. These products can be easily washed and disposed of.

4. Extra Corporeal Devices:

Extracorporeal devices are like mechanical organs. They support sick organs like the liver, lungs, and kidneys. They are used for blood purification and the removal of waste products from patients’ bodies. They also separate and dispose of patients’ plasma, supplying fresh plasma.

Applications of Medical Textiles:

Tissue Engineering:

Medical textiles are used in tissue engineering to create scaffolds, unique structures used to develop and repair tissues in the body. A prominent example is core-shell hydrogel microfibers containing essential proteins that help tissues grow.

Hospital Apparel:

We are familiar with this sector. Hospital bedsheets, patient wear, and doctors’ and nurses’ uniforms are notable hospital apparel items. These items contain features like comfort, breathability, and antimicrobial properties.

Wound Care:

This area of application is widespread. It includes simple elastic and non-elastic bandages, wound dressings, sutures, gauze, etc. They are comprised of woven fabrics.

Soft Tissue Implants:

This part of tissue engineering impacts the creation of artificial ligaments, which connect bones and stabilize joints. PET and polypropylene are processed using several techniques to create strong, durable ligaments.

Hard Tissue Implants:

This sector replaces hard tissues like bones and teeth. Since mechanical properties like strength and durability are needed, textile structural composites replace hard tissue. Areas of application include artificial bones, bone cement, and synthetic joints.

Future Prospect of Medical Textiles:

The number of patents filling medical textiles is increasing tremendously. Hence we can assume that its innovations are reaching in various aspects and upper-hand industries. Some notable prospects of medical textiles can be sensor-based smart medical textiles, antimicrobial medical textiles, and compostable medical textiles.

The versatility of medical textiles in the health sector is beyond any discussion. Its contributions to healing the world create an urge to expand it much more. So, proper research, collaboration, and development will make it possible to spread this to remarkable achievements.

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Writer

Khoshbuba Alam Broti

Intern 

Content Writing Department

YSSE.