Research, development and future trends for medical textile products

Medical textiles are functional textiles resulting from production technologies, materials and medicines, which make them technically sophisticated products for different biomedical applications concerning their potential. Medical textiles can be classified as nonimplantable (i.e., dressings and gauze), implantable (i.e., artificial arteries, sutures, vascular grafts), intelligent textiles (i.e., for thermoregulating and shape), extracorporeal devices (i.e., artificial organs) and health/hygiene products. Recurrent fibres in functional medical textiles must be nontoxic, nonallergenic or carcinogenic. Parameters such as strength, flexibility, absorption or biodegradability may be desired for products with specific functionalities. This chapter focuses on the progress of medical textiles from natural resources, their functional modifications, and their added-value potential applications. A description is provided on the technologies, from biobased medical textiles to the development of medical textiles with high absorption, antimicrobial, drug release, protection and other highly valuable functions in biomedical materials or tissue regeneration.