This textbook aims to ensure that advances in medical textiles are addressed and that recent developments are able to be appreciated and understood not only by medical practitioners and healthcare personnel but also by textile scientists and technologists. The idea is to stimulate collaborative research and development in the field of medical textiles and to equip researchers with an understanding of the steps they need to take to ensure that their efforts, be they to develop new devices for implantation or items for external application, are carried out in such a way as to improve their effectiveness and enhance the prospects for their implementation. Attention is drawn to the need to improve outcomes in the practical setting and to guidance on the detailed planning required prior to engaging in experimental work. Standard tests can help researchers to monitor performance, but for some important applications such as those required to demonstrate antimicrobial and fluid-repellent performance in most items of protective wear, standard tests consistently fall seriously short in terms of predicting how well they might work in the practical setting. Guidance is therefore given for their further development.
Chapters within the textbook cover:
- The history of innovation within medical textiles with particular attention given to key concepts of the latter part of the 19th Century and subsequent associated developments.
- Textile and polymer science underpinning fibres, fabrics, nano-fibre technology and the functional finishes that can be applied to enhance the performance of medical textile products.
- Woven, knitted, nonwoven and braided fabrics and the key performance characteristics of each fabric type which make them particularly suited to specific medical textile roles such as mesh, grafts, filtration and scaffolds for tissue engineering.
- Implantable medical textiles, non-implantable medical textiles, health and hygiene products and extracorporeal devices that use textile products.
- Legislative requirements for medical devices.
- The design of experiments and suitability for purpose of textile test methods.
- Case studies to illustrate how medical textiles are applied in practice.
The book provides essential reading for textile professionals, biomedical engineers, and others involved in the research, design and engineering of medical and healthcare appliances, and for those employed in the medical profession wishing to gain new insights into the wealth of materials at their disposal.
Ms Holly Morris holds dual professional accreditation as a Fellow across the surgical and textile industries. Working as a Consultant Hand and Wrist surgeon, Holly has a special interest in the management of paediatric and congenital hand differences. Holly trained in Trauma and Orthopaedic surgery, spending time in her training working at the internationally renowned Pulvertaft Hand Centre, United Kingdom. Following training, she undertook further subspecialty training in hand and microsurgery in Auckland, New Zealand, as well as visiting a range of international hand units to develop her understanding of the congenital hand.
In her clinical practice, she is an advocate for sustainability and, in particular, a circular economy for medical textiles. Holly is a member of the Textile Institute International Council and the medical textile working group of the European Division of Health Care Without Harm. Nationally, she has advised the Royal College of Surgeons Sustainability group, contributing guidance on textile use in surgery for the Green Surgery Report.
Holly has been involved for some years with research within her fields and spoken internationally on both surgical and textiles matters relevant to her expertise. She has experience mentoring students in medicine and supervising Masters and PhD students in medical device engineering. Previously Chief Medical Officer for Revolution-ZERO, Holly has a working knowledge of medical device regulations. She has an interest in designing and developing textile based medical devices for use within her clinical practice.
Professor Richard Murray was Pro-Vice Chancellor International and Dean of the Hollings Faculty at the Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) in the United Kingdom for 15 years before becoming Emeritus Professor in 2011.
Richard graduated in Textile Chemistry from the University of Leeds and, combining protein chemistry with electron microscopy, carried out research into wool fibre fine structure for his PhD before continuing his research in textile physics, publishing papers on wool, cotton, polyester, Kevlar 49 and carbon fibre fine structures before moving to Edinburgh to pursue a lecturing career and to develop research into fabric care and high-performance garment design. During that time, Queen Margaret College where he worked had the widest range of healthcare courses in the UK, and one of Richard's duties was to guide them in the development of their Diploma courses into Bachelor's Degree programmes, hence his continuing interest in textiles and health, and his research into aspects of clothing comfort and function.
During his time in Edinburgh, Richard was the member for Scotland on the Consumer Standards Advisory Committee of the British Standards Institution, he represented the Scottish University sector on the General Teaching Council for Scotland, was Chairman of the Scottish Section of the Textile Institute, and worked as Technical Director for two small companies in England. At MMU one of Professor Murray's priorities was to establish new partnerships with leading universities in China, particularly with those undertaking teaching and research on textiles and garment design & technology. He became a Visiting Professor at several Chinese universities including Donghua, Huizhou and GDUT, delivering lectures and presentations to university staff, students and to business representatives on a regular basis. Richard is the Chairman of the Textile Institute Publications Committee and the Editor of its research review journal, Textile Progress and he maintains his research interests as a member of Professor Kuo-bing Cheng's textile research team, 'GLORIA' at Feng Chia University in Taiwan.
