Advances of Medical Textiles

A special issue of Textiles (ISSN 2673-7248).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2023) | Viewed by 35759

Special Issue Editors

Institute of Engineering Materials and Design, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Maribor, 2000 Maribor, Slovenia
Interests: biopolymers; medical textiles; modification and compounding of nanocellulose of bacterial and plant origin; microstructure; scaffolds; membranes; biomaterials for medicine; composite membranes for fuel cells
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues, 

Medical textiles are an emerging interdisciplinary field, positioned among conventional textile technologies—weaving, knitting, embroidery—and other scientific fields such as chemistry, medical science, pharmaceuticals and electrical engineering. Medical textiles are an advanced branch of technical textiles, offering much more than commodities. The immense growth of this field significantly broadens the diversity and performance of products belonging to the category of medical textiles, ranging from disposable baby diapers, feminine hygiene products,  bandages and health care personnel coats to specialized and personalized high-tech products as monitoring devices, blood filtration membranes, implants and more. The latter categories have a high technical sophistication in order to meet the required safety regulations and appropriately react to biological complexity when facing the challenges of the human body. For such extensions of traditional use, the textile manufacturing processes are adapted- and/or integrated with other processing technologies with the capacity to form composite structures with different levels of complexity in terms of composition and architecture, such as coating, lithography, and 3D/ink-jet printing. Such an integrative approach can elicit the ˝smart˝ function into the fabrics to sense and respond to electrical, mechanical, chemical, thermal, optical, or magnetic stimuli, to deliver drugs in a predictable and controlled manner, to provide high mechanical resistance (sutures, heart valve prosthesis, hernia and incontinence meshes), selectivity (blood filtration), and much more. 

To this end,  we invite you to submit original research articles and review articles covering the following topics:

  • Non-implantable and implantable medical textiles;
  • Smart, responsive medical textiles;
  • Drug-releasing textiles;
  • Textiles in rehabilitation, healthcare, and hygiene;
  • Textile composites encompassing the (bio)polymeric, metallic, or inorganic components;
  • Advanced textile manufacturing (electrospinning, 3D printing…) for high-tech medical devices;
  • Regulation on medical textiles.

We look forward to your submissions of new and prospective studies involving advanced medical textiles. 

Dr. Selestina Gorgieva
Dr. Andrea Zille
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Textiles is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • non-implantable and implantable medical textiles
  • smart, responsive medical textiles
  • drug-releasing textiles
  • textiles in rehabilitation, healthcare, and hygiene
  • textile composites encompassing the (bio)polymeric, metallic, or inorganic components
  • advanced textile manufacturing (electrospinning, 3D printing…) for high-tech medical devices
  • regulation on medical textiles

Published Papers (8 papers)

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Research

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16 pages, 3565 KiB  
Article
Antimicrobial Properties of Polyester/Copper Nanocomposites by Melt-Spinning and Melt-Blowing Techniques
by Alain González-Sánchez, Ricardo Rosas-Macías, José E. Hernández-Bautista, Janett A. Valdez-Garza, Nayeli Rodríguez-Fuentes, Florentino Soriano-Corral, Antonio S. Ledezma-Pérez, Carlos A. Ávila-Orta and Víctor J. Cruz-Delgado
Textiles 2024, 4(1), 1-16; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/textiles4010001 - 25 Dec 2023
Viewed by 829
Abstract
In this study, textile fiber prototypes based on polyester and different Cu nanoparticles (CuNP) content were produced using melt-spinning to obtain bi-component multifilament fibers and melt-blowing to obtain non-woven fabrics. The prototypes were tested against pathogenic microorganisms such as S. aureus, E. [...] Read more.
In this study, textile fiber prototypes based on polyester and different Cu nanoparticles (CuNP) content were produced using melt-spinning to obtain bi-component multifilament fibers and melt-blowing to obtain non-woven fabrics. The prototypes were tested against pathogenic microorganisms such as S. aureus, E. coli, and C. albicans. It was shown that bi-component fibers offer excellent protection against pathogens, with up to 99% growth inhibition with 0.5% w/w for S. aureus and E. coli; meanwhile, non-woven fabric only shows activity against E. coli from 0.1% w/w of CuNP. Using different analytical techniques, it was possible to identify that the CuNP were confined exclusively in the outer cover of the bi-component fibers which may be associated with increased antimicrobial activity compared to the fibers in the non-woven fabric. The use of polymeric nanocomposites based on polyester/copper offers an alternative of great interest due to the versatility of the raw material and the high efficiency of copper nanoparticles as an antimicrobial additive. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances of Medical Textiles)
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14 pages, 1570 KiB  
Article
Monitoring of Surgical Wounds with Purely Textile, Measuring Wound Pads—III: Detection of Bleeding or Seroma Discharge by the Measurement of Wound Weeping
by Harald Pötzschke and Kai Zirk
Textiles 2022, 2(4), 546-559; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/textiles2040031 - 06 Oct 2022
Viewed by 6671
Abstract
To enable stating a final common sensor design of purely textile, measuring wound pads for the monitoring of surgically provided wounds with regard to tissue temperature, moisture release and stretching (as indicators for the most prominent wound healing disruptions bacterial inflammation, bleeding/seroma discharge, [...] Read more.
To enable stating a final common sensor design of purely textile, measuring wound pads for the monitoring of surgically provided wounds with regard to tissue temperature, moisture release and stretching (as indicators for the most prominent wound healing disruptions bacterial inflammation, bleeding/seroma discharge, and haematoma/seroma formation), the aim of this investigation was to identify and quantify possible variables practically affecting the detection of water in a systematic study. The textile sensors comprise insulated electrical wires stitched onto a textile backing and parallel wires form a plane sensor structure whose electrical capacitance is increased by water (contained in blood or lymph) in the textiles. Only parallel sensor wires forming double meanders were examined because this structure enables all the parameters of interest to be measured. Surprisingly the results are complex, neither simple nor consistent. The change in electrical capacitance (measuring signal) upon the standardized addition of water was not additive, i.e., it was not found to be correlated to the moistened area of the sensor array, but inversely correlated to the diameter of the sensor wire, mildly pronounced in connection with smaller stitching spacing (stitching loops along the sensor wires). The measuring signal reached a maximum with medium sensor wire spacings and pronounced with a smaller stitching spacing. Without exception, the measuring signal was systematically higher in connection with smaller (compared with larger) stitching spacings. The results presented indicate that the optimization of the capacitive textile sensors cannot be calculated but must instead be carried out empirically. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances of Medical Textiles)
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0 pages, 8551 KiB  
Article
Hydrophilic Antimicrobial Coatings for Medical Leathers from Silica-Dendritic Polymer-Silver Nanoparticle Composite Xerogels
by Michael Arkas, Georgia Kythreoti, Evangelos P. Favvas, Konstantinos Giannakopoulos, Nafsika Mouti, Marina Arvanitopoulou, Ariadne Athanasiou, Marilina Douloudi, Eleni Nikoli, Michail Vardavoulias, Marios Dimitriou, Ioannis Karakasiliotis, Victoria Ballén and Sara Maria Soto González
Textiles 2022, 2(3), 464-485; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/textiles2030026 - 26 Aug 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2443
Abstract
Hybrid organic-inorganic (dendritic polymer-silica) xerogels containing silver nanoparticles (Ag Nps) were developed as antibacterial leather coatings. The preparation method is environmentally friendly and is based on two biomimetic reactions. Silica gelation and spontaneous Ag Nps formation were both mediated by hyperbranched poly (ethylene [...] Read more.
Hybrid organic-inorganic (dendritic polymer-silica) xerogels containing silver nanoparticles (Ag Nps) were developed as antibacterial leather coatings. The preparation method is environmentally friendly and is based on two biomimetic reactions. Silica gelation and spontaneous Ag Nps formation were both mediated by hyperbranched poly (ethylene imine) (PEI) scaffolds of variable Mw (2000–750,000). The formation of precursor hydrogels was monitored by dynamic light scattering (DLS). The chemical composition of the xerogels was assessed by infrared spectroscopy (IR) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), while the uniformity of the coatings was established by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The release properties of coated leather samples and their overall behavior in water in comparison to untreated analogs were investigated by Ultraviolet-Visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy. Antibacterial activity was tested against Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Staphylococcus aureus, and antibiofilm properties against Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Escherichia coli, Acinetobacter baumannii, and Enterococcus faecalis, while the SARS-CoV-2 clinical isolate was employed for the first estimation of their antiviral potential. Toxicity was evaluated using the Jurkat E6.1 cell line. Finally, water-contact angle measurements were implemented to determine the enhancement of the leather surface hydrophilicity caused by these composite layers. The final advanced products are intended for use in medical applications. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances of Medical Textiles)
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13 pages, 8717 KiB  
Article
Simulation-Based Development of Gradient Woven Fabrics for Biomimetic Implants to Restore Tendons and Ligaments
by Tobias Georg Lang, Dominik Nuß, Thomas Gereke, Gerald Hoffmann, Michael Wöltje, Dilbar Aibibu and Chokri Cherif
Textiles 2022, 2(2), 336-348; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/textiles2020019 - 07 Jun 2022
Viewed by 1806
Abstract
Tendons and ligaments are complex tissues that are necessary for human movement. Injuries occur very commonly and treatment quite often requires implants. Such implants must be adapted to the biological and structural composition of human tendons and ligaments. Thus, the objective is to [...] Read more.
Tendons and ligaments are complex tissues that are necessary for human movement. Injuries occur very commonly and treatment quite often requires implants. Such implants must be adapted to the biological and structural composition of human tendons and ligaments. Thus, the objective is to realize graded, biomimetic tendon and ligament implants that are long-term resorbable. First, basic woven fabrics are fabricated from biocompatible silk fibroin yarns. Starting from the basic fabrics, gradient fabrics, with three different weave zones, are then developed and produced. In addition, fabrics with variable width and lateral warp yarn offset are fabricated on the basis of open reed weaving (ORW) technology on a modified shuttle narrow weaving loom. Meso-scale finite element models are developed in order to support the design of the gradient weaves. First, TexGen software is used to create a close to reality fabric geometry. Models are then converted into beam element models using a Python script. Results of real and virtual tensile tests show a clear relationship between the crimp of the warp yarns in the fabric structures and the resulting elongations. The additional ORW yarn system influences the stiffness. The tensile behavior of experiments and simulation agree very well, so the models are suitable for further development of woven implants. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances of Medical Textiles)
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Review

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18 pages, 3493 KiB  
Review
Temperature-Dependent Shape-Memory Textiles: Physical Principles and Applications
by Heitor Luiz Ornaghi, Jr. and Otávio Bianchi
Textiles 2023, 3(2), 257-274; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/textiles3020017 - 13 Jun 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2105
Abstract
Textiles have been pivotal to economies and social relationships throughout history. In today’s world, there is an unprecedented demand for smart materials. The advent of smart textile fabrics, crafted from high-quality, high-performance fibers, has enabled the incorporation of specific functions into clothing and [...] Read more.
Textiles have been pivotal to economies and social relationships throughout history. In today’s world, there is an unprecedented demand for smart materials. The advent of smart textile fabrics, crafted from high-quality, high-performance fibers, has enabled the incorporation of specific functions into clothing and apparel brands. Notably, the rise of smart fabrics is evident in astronaut suits designed to regulate temperature and control muscle vibrations. Moreover, the scope of these products has expanded beyond everyday wear, encompassing fields such as medicine and healthcare, ecology/environmental protection, and military and aerospace. This review explores the recent advancements and challenges associated with intelligent fabrics, particularly temperature-dependent shape-memory metamaterials. The potential for innovative smart textile materials to enhance traditional fabrics’ overall functionality and utility is immense, especially in domains such as medical devices, fashion, entertainment, and defense. Crucially, ensuring user comfort is a primary consideration in these applications for promoting the widespread adoption of wearable devices. Developing smart textile devices necessitates a multidisciplinary approach that combines circuit design expertise, knowledge of smart materials, proficiency in microelectronics, and a deep understanding of chemistry and textile production. The synergy across these diverse fields is vital to unlocking the full potential of smart fabrics and enabling their broad implementation. By embracing this comprehensive approach, we can pave the way for groundbreaking advances in smart textile technology, driving innovation and progress in the field. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances of Medical Textiles)
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18 pages, 2018 KiB  
Review
Fiber-Based Masks and Respirators: Using Decontamination Methods and Antimicrobial Treatment to Improve Its Reusability during Pandemic
by Xinyu Song, Pengyan Liu, Liangmin Yu and Andrea Zille
Textiles 2022, 2(2), 318-335; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/textiles2020018 - 06 Jun 2022
Viewed by 2907
Abstract
Shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) is often projected in response to public health emergencies such as infection outbreaks and pandemics. Respiratory protective devices (RPDs), namely medical face masks and respirators, are considered the last defense for the front-line healthcare workers. Cleaning, decontamination [...] Read more.
Shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) is often projected in response to public health emergencies such as infection outbreaks and pandemics. Respiratory protective devices (RPDs), namely medical face masks and respirators, are considered the last defense for the front-line healthcare workers. Cleaning, decontamination and reuse of the disposable RPDs have been accepted by local health authorities during the pandemic period. To contribute to the mitigation of RPD shortage and ensure the safe adoption of decontamination protocols, this review discusses the regulated testing standards and the most commonly studied decontamination methods in the literature. The reuse of RPDs must fulfill three criteria: remove the microbial thread, maintain original function and structural integrity (including fitting tests) and leave no harmful residuals. Decontamination methods such as ultraviolet germicidal irradiation, moist heat and vaporized hydrogen peroxide appeared to be the most promising methods in balancing the above-mentioned criteria. However, the effectiveness of decontamination methods varies depending on the RPDs’ models, materials and design. Therefore, the adoption of protocols needs to be evidence-based with full validation in the local institutes. Additionally, new technology such as antimicrobial treated PPE that can reduce the risks of fomite during donning and doffing process with an extended lifespan should be encouraged. Overall, good training and guidance for appropriate reuse of RPDs are fundamental to ensure their efficiency in protecting front-line healthcare workers. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances of Medical Textiles)
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21 pages, 716 KiB  
Review
Aromatherapy in Textiles: A Systematic Review of Studies Examining Textiles as a Potential Carrier for the Therapeutic Effects of Essential Oils
by Sunidhi Mehta and Maureen MacGillivray
Textiles 2022, 2(1), 29-49; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/textiles2010003 - 06 Jan 2022
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 6251
Abstract
Integrative medicine is a rapidly growing specialty field of medical care that emphasizes the amalgamation of complementary therapies and conventional medicine. Aromatherapy, one of the complementary therapies, is a centuries-old tradition, used in many cultures and societies as an alternative to, or in [...] Read more.
Integrative medicine is a rapidly growing specialty field of medical care that emphasizes the amalgamation of complementary therapies and conventional medicine. Aromatherapy, one of the complementary therapies, is a centuries-old tradition, used in many cultures and societies as an alternative to, or in conjunction with, conventional medicine. However, there is very little understanding of its therapeutic benefits in the scientific realm related to the correct dosage of essential oils, their delivery mechanism and their efficacy on human physiology in general. We reviewed studies published between 2011–2021 focused on aromatherapy and textiles, and explore “textile” materials as a possible carrier for essential oils in this paper. Due to their proximity to the biggest organ of the human body, textiles can potentially serve as a good delivery system for the therapeutic benefit of essential oils. After this rigorous review, we found gaps in the field. Therefore, we propose cross-disciplinary synergies for future research to fully understand the therapeutic efficacy of essential oils. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances of Medical Textiles)
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Other

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27 pages, 1248 KiB  
Systematic Review
Tight Margins: Compression Garment Use during Exercise and Recovery—A Systematic Review
by Alana J. Leabeater, Lachlan P. James and Matthew W. Driller
Textiles 2022, 2(3), 395-421; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/textiles2030022 - 21 Jul 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 10170
Abstract
Background: Compression garments (CGs) are a popular tool that may act on physiological, physical, neuromuscular, biomechanical, and/or perceptual domains during exercise and recovery from exercise, with varying levels of efficacy. While previous reviews have focused on the effects of CGs during running, high-intensity [...] Read more.
Background: Compression garments (CGs) are a popular tool that may act on physiological, physical, neuromuscular, biomechanical, and/or perceptual domains during exercise and recovery from exercise, with varying levels of efficacy. While previous reviews have focused on the effects of CGs during running, high-intensity exercise, and exercise recovery, a comprehensive systematic review that assesses the effectiveness of garment use both during and after exercise has not been recently conducted. Methods: A systematic search of the literature from the earliest record until May 2022 was performed based on the PRISMA-P guidelines for systematic reviews, using the online databases PubMed, SPORTDiscus, and Google Scholar. Results: 160 articles with 2530 total participants were included for analysis in the systematic review, comprised of 103 ‘during exercise’ studies, 42 ‘during recovery’ studies, and 15 combined design studies. Conclusions: During exercise, CGs have a limited effect on global measures of endurance performance but may improve some sport-specific variables (e.g., countermovement jump height). Most muscle proteins/metabolites are unchanged with the use of CGs during exercise, though measures of blood lactate tend to be lowered. CGs for recovery appear to have a positive benefit on subsequent bouts of endurance (e.g., cycling time trials) and resistance exercise (e.g., isokinetic dynamometry). CGs are associated with reductions in lactate dehydrogenase during recovery and are consistently associated with decreases in perceived muscle soreness following fatiguing exercise. This review may provide a useful point of reference for practitioners and researchers interested in the effect of CGs on particular outcome variables or exercise types. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advances of Medical Textiles)
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