Textile-Based Biomaterials for Surgical Applications

Textile-based biomaterials have the longest history in biomaterials. In ancient China and Egypt as far back as 2000 b.c., natural fibers like linen, silk, bark, horsehair, and dried guts were used as suture materials for wound closure. The introduction of steel wire and synthetic fibers like polypropylene, nylon, and polyester during and after World War II brought the first revolution of medical textiles and greatly expanded the chemical composition of textile-based biomaterials beyond natural sources. Owing to their precisely controlled manufacturing processes and uniform and reproducible properties, these synthetic fibrous biomaterials have received a great deal of attention from both surgeons and researchers. However, the basic textile structure has not kept up the pace of the development of materials.