Medical textiles is one of the major growth areas within technical textiles and the use of textile materials for medical and healthcare products ranges from simple gauze or bandage materials to scaffolds for tissue culturing and a large variety of prostheses for permanent body implants.
Recent advances include:
The development of polylactic acid and polyglycolic acid fibres as structures for cell growth
Temporary bioresorbable textile supports for growing human organic tissue
The development of smart fibres - based on naturally-occurring polymers and also on non-animal-based protein fibres and structures - for the treatment of wounds and ulcers
These are a few examples of the wide range of textile-based non-implantable and implantable products used in medicine and surgery and covered in this cutting-edge collection of the latest research in this fascinating area.

Papers are presented under the following headings: Modern materials and processes; Compression and bandaging; Healthcare and hygiene; Woundcare; Implantable devices; Test methods.