Med-Tech Innovation Materials


bulging to perform properly. Techniques such as bifurcation or tapering even allow these kinds of grafts to accommodate more complex anatomic specs such as in those supporting endovascular stent systems designed to prevent abdominal aortic aneurysm rupture, other percutaneous coronary intervention stent procedures, and peripheral vascular grafts throughout the extremities. Nonwovens. Traditionally, nonwoven structures have seen their greatest use in tissue engineering applications as absorbable scaffolds, but these kinds of textiles are increasingly being incorporated into orthopaedic and cardiovascular devices using fibrous components such as suture fasteners, pledgets and a variety of reconstruction procedures throughout the body. Thanks to their unique 3D structure, nonwovens encourage cellular in-growth for the repair and replacement of natural tissue. They are also precisely engineered to maintain material integrity for the required life of the device. Because they are most commonly composed of absorbable biomaterials that enable regrowth of natural cells, nonwoven structures such as tubular conduits for vascular replacement technologies, heart valve repair and orthopaedic injury treatments are common textile components integrated into device designs.


Elution through extrusion Alongside support and repair functions, textiles can also aid in drug delivery, in devices and implants that take advantage of elution technology. Today, drug-loaded fibres are a growing delivery approach, and the right processing technique can maximise the biomechanical


Textured absorbable multifilament fibre


properties of those fibres to create textile structures with the power to administer drugs in vivo or even aid in healing using an implantable device. Most melt extrusion will create fibre, but will destroy any biologic or pharmaceutical additive. There are proprietary processes that can manage both successfully. These extrusion techniques preserve the biologic activity of pharmaceutical compounds and other biologic agents under a breadth of conditions and are enabling a greater range of drugs to be loaded onto fibres than ever before. The result is the ability to create textile structures composed of these drug-loaded fibres that provide not only a means of drug delivery, but also functional support at the same time. Because implant sites often contain damaged tissue, loaded fibres can also act as a potential healing aid by releasing agents such as thrombin or vascular endothelial growth factors to help heal natural cells even as they provide support or repair functions. An absorbable textile platform allows for the engineering of both chemical composition and mechanical properties such as size, shape and porosity to the specific application, which means that a single structure can satisfy both physical and pharmaceutical performance requirements without requiring additional material support for implantation. In these cases, polymer selection is once again critical to successful performance, and engineers must work closely with textile scientists to ensure structural viability before any delivery method is possible.


Engineering advances


Buoyed by the advanced scientific expertise of today’s medical textile developers and an emerging crop of powerful biomaterials, the future of today’s device companies invested in a biomimetic approach to device development is bright. From synthetic ligaments and heart valves to drug delivery, orthopaedic and cardiovascular devices, applications are entering a new phase of development. It is up to the industry to maximise the engineering advancements of medical textiles for next generation clinical benefit.


Todd Blair is Director of Sales & Marketing at Biomedical Structures, 60 Commerce Drive Warwick, Rhode Island 02886, USA, tel. +1 401 223 0990, email: tblair@bmsri.com www.bmsri.com


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