Smart Textiles for Medicine and Healthcare

Materials, Systems and Applications

Lieva Van Langenhove

• Publisher: Woodhead Publishing
• Year: 2007
• Print ISBN: 9781845690274
• eBook ISBN: 9781845692933
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Materials Science
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Smart or intelligent textiles are a relatively novel area of research within the textile industry with enormous potential within the healthcare industry. This book provides a unique insight into recent developments in how smart textiles are being used in the medical field.The first part of the book assesses trends in smart medical textiles. Chapters cover topics such as wound care materials, drug-based release systems and electronic sensors for health care. The second part of the book discusses the role of smart textile in monitoring the health of particular groups such as pregnant women, children, the elderly and those with particular physical disabilities.With its distinguished editor and team of international contributors, this book provides a unique and essential reference to those concerned with intelligent textiles in healthcare.- Unlocks the significant potential of smart textiles within the healthcare industry- Provides a unique insight into recent developments in this exciting field

Part I

Types of smart medical textile

1

Trends in smart medical textiles

S. Black University of the Arts London, UK

1.1 Introduction

Much has been written about the accelerating pace of human development and change: from isolated pre-industrial agricultural societies, through the industrial revolution and development of transport and communication systems, and now to the exponentially developing information or knowledge age with its global connectivity through networked technologies – ‘a degree of connectivity previous generations of engineers could only dream of’ (Bhattacharyya 2006:52).

Textiles originated in the first of these eras; early manual production of woven cloth was rapidly developed with the machine age to become literally ‘the fabric of our lives’. Textiles occupy a unique and universal position across societies and cultures being the material form which creates the interface between the naked body and the potentially hostile environment. Textiles cushion our personal and public spaces; in the home and at work, in transportation or in hospital, with a ubiquity that is now being harnessed for positive uses. The evolution and maturity of sophisticated information and communication technologies, together with microelectronics and systems developments, provide an incomparable opportunity for functional electronic integration with textiles in a manner which breaks down the norms of computing hardware and embeds computer functions into the soft textile interface.

The last ten years have seen the emergence of new multi-disciplinary approaches to textile research. As micro-, nano-, bio- and information technologies and biomaterials have continued to evolve to new stages of maturity there is an extraordinary array of new possibilities for enhanced functionalities within textiles, from new fibre structures, composite materials and coatings at the nano and micro levels to the visible integration of wearable electronic assemblies into clothing. Now, as a range of previously disparate technologies converge, for instance, biochemistry and polymer chemistry meet computer processor miniaturisation to produce so-called ‘lab-on-a-chip’ diagnostics, and new forms of textile sensors, actuators and other components become available, previous dreams for truly functional and intuitively wearable computing can start to become a reality via the medium of textiles.

Since its rudimentary beginnings, pioneered by Steve Mann in the 1980s in the experimental labs of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), wearable computing has escaped from the confines of the rigid box and beyond the distribution of elements in clothing or on the body to now merge with textile technology. New conductive yarns have been developed which can be woven, knitted and even embroidered into electronically enabled textiles to provide innovative soft textile interfaces that are highly acceptable to the end user. Acceptance of products and devices is especially significant within the medical context where direct intervention is required, opening up opportunities for textiles to meet genuine needs and facilitate clinical interaction and monitoring through enhanced comfort, mobility and convenience.

1.2 Advantages of textiles in medical and healthcare

The key properties of textiles that are mobilised in smart applications are flexibility to conform to the body, comfort to touch, softness and wearability, plus the intrinsic familiarity and acceptability of textiles to the patient. However, because textile technology is very old – weaving and knitting can draw upon centuries of manufacturing knowledge – it is important not to discount existing technologies for innovation: novel application of ‘old’ technology can prove to be as fruitful as a newly emerging technology; the use of existing technologies with new materials can propel an established process into an unforeseen avenue. For example, TWI (The Welding Institute) have established a centre for materials joining technology, based on an adaptation of a Prolast sewing machine to utilise laser beams (Jones and Wise, 2005) Further examples of these permutations of old and new are evident throughout this book – see, for example, section 1.4 regarding the uses of embroidery in medical implants.

As the global population continues to increase, the prevailing demographic profile moves towards greater life expectancy and an ageing populace whose expectations for enhanced healthcare continue to grow. Together these factors exert ever greater pressures on medical care systems. One important avenue by which these issues are currently being addressed is research into the use of ‘smart’ textile systems which integrate responsive and enhanced functionalities to textiles in the medical environment, be they garments, bandages, dressings, surgical implants, bedding, screens or hospital furnishings. These smart systems aim to provide a seamless relationship between textiles and technology for therapeutic care, to aid diagnostics and monitoring of vital signs, and provide aids to recovery and recuperation which can function in diverse locations, enabling remote monitoring of patients through wireless communication technologies. The direct advantage of remote monitoring (see examples in section 1.4.1) is envisaged as streamlining and freeing hospital resources by returning patients to their home environment earlier, whilst they are still being carefully monitored through telecommunications systems from which medical professionals can harvest and interpret data.

Research is taking place on an unprecedented international scale in North America, Europe and Asia, and its spin-off product developments are now emerging at an increasing rate. As the first products start to become available the expectations of the new smart textiles will continue to rise, challenging research to move ever onward. Smart textiles is a hybrid research area crossing many disciplines that, having learnt from early attempts at wearable computing, is moving into another generation of technologies which are designed to solve specific problems in particular contexts. It is poised to have tremendous impact within the medical sector and beyond to everyday life.

The following chapters cover in detail the materials, technologies, systems and applications that are now emerging from this exciting trans-disciplinary collaborative research area to provide cutting edge solutions to problems and scenarios within the entire spectrum of medical applications.

1.2.1 What are smart textiles?

As a newly emergent field there is no one accepted definition, with various terms such as ‘intelligent’, ‘smart’ or ‘active’ materials and textiles often used interchangeably. However, as more research literature and product prototypes appear, definitions are converging and coming into accepted use. According to Xiaoming Tao, whose publication Smart Fibres, Fabrics and Clothing is becoming a key reference text for technologies in the field ‘Smart materials and structures can be defined as the materials and structures that sense and react to environmental conditions or stimuli, such as those from mechanical, thermal, chemical, electrical, magnetic or other sources.’ She further subdivides smart materials into

… passive smart, active smart and very smart materials. Passive smart materials can only sense the environmental conditions or stimuli; active smart materials will sense and react to the conditions or stimuli; very smart materials can sense, react and adapt themselves accordingly (Tao 2001: 2).

These definitions can clearly be applied directly to the textiles arena, perhaps equating intelligent with ‘very smart’. Other researchers argue that passive cannot by definition be smart, whereas Gonzalez at the University of Alberta USA distinguishes between ‘very smart’ and ‘intelligent’ adding the definition: ‘intelligent materials are those capable of responding or being activated to perform a function in a pre-programmed manner’ (www.ualberta.ca/~jag3/smart_textiles). Baurley, in Wearable electronics and photonics (Tao 2005: 236), adopts a less precise definition: ‘smart is a term used to define a material that reacts in a particular way when exposed to stimuli such as environmental cha...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright page
• Contributor contact details
• Introduction
• Part I: Types of smart medical textile
• Part II: Smart medical textiles for particular types of patient
• Index