Medical textiles keep evolving

Fitzroy Brown, product manager of Bard Peripheral Vascular, discussed the evolution of medical textiles for vascular surgical applications on October 15 at IFAI’s 2018 Expo Pre-Conference in Dallas, Texas.

Attendees at the presentation learned that implantable fabrics were first experimented with in World War II and the Korean War. According to Brown, the first applications tried were solid walls, glass tubes and plastics—none of which were successful. Better success was eventually found with polyester and PTFE fabrics.

Potential uses for surgical applications are now used for:

• heart valves: sew rings and scaffolding;
• pledgets: from catheter cuffs to heart valve sew rings;
• AAA: repair of a bulging abdominal artery;
• LVAD: attached to drive line of Left Ventricular Assist Devices; and
• Orthopedic applications.

Brown talked about several considerations for implantable textile material selection, including the impact on tissue fluids, acceptance by the tissue, sterilization needs and fabrication capability. As for the path to market for new products, Brown says the sequence of steps are: design, testing for safety and efficacy, sterilization, bio-compatibility testing and regulatory requirements.