Schmelzgesponnene elastische Fasern für den Einsatz in der Medizin

The use of implants in areas of great anatomical mobility, e.g. in the gastroenterological or cardiovascular area, can lead to considerable complications, such as reocclusion of the vessel, because of insufficient elasticity. Although textile implants show a little structural elastic behaviour due to the textile-specific fibre arrangement, this elasticity is insufficient to map the elastic properties needed for anatomical mobility. Therefore, improving the elastic qualities of textile implants is in the focus of textile engineering for medical use. Generating sufficient elastic properties of the textile structure can only be achieved if the material used for the production of fibres is elastic. This requires an application-specific design of the elastic fibres. Consequently, this paper examines the manufacturing process of elastic fibres for use in medicine. Within the scope of this study, the manufacturing process of elastic fibres for use in medicine will be investigated. To achieve this goal of producing elastic fibres suitable for implants, the process and material selection take place on the basis of examining biological, mechanical and economic requirements. As a result, the melt spinning process and a thermoplastic poly(carbonate)urethane are selected. Subsequently, the process of manufacturing elastic fibres is investigated in detail. The aim is to determine the influence of process technology on previously defined target parameters like elasticity. Both mechanical and biological tests are carried out. Based on the findings of the process investigation, the utilization of elastic fibres for specific applications is evaluated. The applications addressed are surgical sutures for intestinal anastomosis and small-lumen vascular prostheses. Finally, the fictitious economic implementation of the use of elastic fibres in medicine is considered. In this thesis, parameter settings are determined which are used to obtain fibres made of poly(carbonate)urethane with an elasticity of 99.2 %. Furthermore, the in vitro test (proliferation) proves a high cytocompatibility, just as the in vivo test (small animal model) demonstrates a foreign body reaction to the produced fibres that is comparable to clinical standards