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This month we have been focusing our features on medical applications, specifically, developments in biomedical textile research. Our previous feature article (“Challenges and rewards”) discussed some success stories from the standpoint of businesses pivotal in the process of achieving that success. Our new feature backs it up to the research underway that’s showing promise, although actual commercialization is in the future. However, when you read about what this current research is accomplishing, you could find yourself saying the same thing that I said, “This can’t happen soon enough.”
Today we are publishing an article written by a research team led by a man who has been at the forefront of this groundbreaking work. “Recent advances in biomedical textiles” by Dr. Martin King and researchers in his lab at the Wilson College of Textiles at NCSU describe three exciting developments now underway at their university.
I remember clearly the session at the Advanced Textiles Association’s Expo when I first heard about “biomedical textiles.” At that point, the concept seemed like a scene lifted from a Star Trek episode, but now it’s actually happening. These new textile-based products are potentially life-altering, one addressing critical needs for patients with aggressive cancers, another treating serious burn injuries, and the third is an improved suture for better outcomes in reconstructive plastic surgery.
I know someone who has suffered from serious burns. I know someone—more than one—who has been treated for an aggressive cancer. I know someone—more than one—who has had reconstructive surgery following skin cancer and traumatic injury. Don’t we all? Imagine a world where we could treat these traumatic injuries more reliably and effectively! That’s what these new textile technologies in development are offering.
Bringing medical textile products this sophisticated to market will take a considerable amount of time, so, we’re not there yet. But commercialization will come to pass. With innovations this meaningful, it just can’t happen soon enough.
Janet Preus is senior editor of Textile Technology Source. She can be reached at janet.preus@textiles.org.