Authors Czajka R
Textiles represent an ideal interface between man and medical treatment facilities, and it would be a loss not to make use of the possibilities they offer, technical textiles are one of the faster growing sectors of the global textile industry. The world textile industry is moving rapidly toward the manufacture of high-added value textile structures and products such as medical textiles, protective textiles, and smart textiles. Textile materials used in the medical and applied healthcare and hygiene sectors are an important and growing part of the textile industry. a medical device is defined as any instrument, apparatus, implement, machine, appliance, implant, in vitro reagent or calibrator, software, material or other similar or related article, intended by the manufacturer to be used, alone or in combination, for human beings for one or more of the specific purpose(s) of: diagnosis, prevention, monitoring, treatment or alleviation of disease, diagnosis, monitoring, treatment, alleviation of or compensation for an injury, investigation, replacement, modification, or support of the anatomy or of a physiological process, supporting or sustaining life, control of conception, disinfection of medical devices, providing information for medical purposes by means of in vitro examination of specimens derived from the human body and which does not achieve its primary intended action in or on the human body by pharmacological, immunological, or metabolic means, but which may be assisted in its function by such means. Characteristics of the Medical Textiles Market, Technical textiles will find many kinds of application with medical and hygiene products in the healthcare sector. The diversity of applications encountered in medical and healthcare products is quite remarkable, e.g., simple bandages, biocompatible implants and tissues, antibacterial wound treatment material, prosthetics, and intelligent textiles. Each of these categories covers a broad range of applications, and the many end-uses with their disparate requirements create opportunities for all kinds of textile such as fibers, mono- and multi-filament yarns, woven, knitted, nonwoven, braiding and composite fabrics. Medical textiles embrace all those textile materials used in health and hygiene applications in both the consumer and medical markets. As such, it comprises a group of products with considerable variations in terms of product performance and unit value. Because of the nature of their application, many medical products are disposable items. Nonwovens account for a high part of the sector overall in terms of tons of fibre used. Also, another feature of the medical textile market will be the growing proportion of composite materials used in wound management products. This will mean the combination of textiles with such materials as films, foam, and adhesives to form structures for the treatment of wound and healthcare products. The increased use of textiles in composite applications will provide major growth fibre consumption in terms of volume. European producers are world leaders in the market for technical/industrial textiles and nonwovens, for example industrial filters, hygiene products or in the medical sector. Although the textile sector is marked by small- and medium-sized enterprises and local developments, it is important that research efforts take place in a more integrated way to achieve a critical mass and be competitive on the global market. The European technical textile sector should continue to develop highly specialized products. This is the case, for example, in medical textiles based on biomaterials, interactive and intelligent textiles provided for textile sensors and improving test methods. Categories of medical textiles include non-implantable materials, implantable materials, extracorporeal devices, healthcare, and hygiene products. The application of different fibers for manufacturing various medical products, Absorbent pad, Wound- contact layer, Base material, Simple non-elastic and elastic bandages, High-support bandages, Compression bandages, Orthopedic bandages, Plasters, Gauze dressing, Lint, Wadding, Scaffold, The market for medical textiles is being driven by a number of factors: population growth rates, particularly in newly developing global regions, changes in demographics, including the ageing of the population in the Western European market, changes in living standards, attitude to health risks; increased awareness of the risks to health workers from health threats from blood-borne diseases and airborne pathogens, the continuing dominance of the leading suppliers and brands (especially in the consumer market), ongoing enhancement in product performance, the growing dominance of purchasing which demands increasing value for money, the increasing share of nonwovens on the medical world market in relation to traditional textile materials. These trends will be further fed by the increasing development of the medical textile market and industry.
