MEDICAL TEXTILES, LEEDS:
THINGS THAT REALLY MATTER
Dr. Parikshit Goswami
Centre for Technical Textiles, University of Leeds, UK
Lecturer in Textile Technology
p.goswami@leeds.ac.uk
NIFT Kolkata
About me
• Lecturer in Textile Technology
• MSc Medical Textiles Programme Leader
• Member of Board Working Group on Sustainability-EDANA
• Research Interest
o Chemical functionalisation of materials
School of Design
SCHOOL OF DESIGN,
UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS
Medical Textiles
Textiles, Leeds and
open innovation
Textiles at Leeds
A Brand Name…
Medical textiles
• Externally funded healthcare-related research
o ca. £3 million
• An extensive and constantly evolving area
• Simple wipe to a complex composite structure for bone
replacement
• Areas of application:
o Implantable materials/tissue engineering (artificial
ligaments etc)
o Non-implantable materials (wound dressings, hygiene
products, ostomy pouches)
o Healthcare environment materials (surgical gowns,
materials to reduce healthcare associated infection (HAI))
A Few Case Studies…
Drug Delivery Patches
Drug delivery systems
Transdermal drug delivery
patches
• One billion transdermal patches- manufactured each year
• Conventional patcheso Up to 95 % of the active drug remains in the patch
o Expensive and disposal issues
o Only one drug could be delivered
Leeds technology
• The technology developed at Leeds
o Show superiority to existing patches
o Higher drug exhaustion
o Longer lifetime of the patch
o Improved control on drug release profile
o Provides sustained bioavailability
o More than one drug could be loaded in the patch
o With separate and controlled release profiles
Who will really benefit from this technology?
Alzheimer’s disease
• Alzheimer’s disease- most common cause of dementia
o Accounting for 50-60 % of cases
• Affects 15 million people worldwide
o Particularly those over 80 years of age
o 24-33 % of people aged 85 or over in the Western world
o Regarded as a major threat to public health
• Feasibility of using Leeds Technology
o Demonstrated using two Alzheimer’s drug compounds
FDA considers patches as ‘combination products’
consisting of a medical device and drug product.
Ostomy Pouch
Ostomy pouch
• Over 120,000 people live with a stoma in the UK
o Surgically-created opening in the bowel
o Allows the removal of waste out of the body
o Into a pouch or other collection device- Ostomy pouch
• Three main types of stoma
o Colostomy, Ileostomy, Urostomy
o 1.23 million new cases of large bowel cancer were diagnosed in 2008
o 333,000 were in Europe (EU 27)
Ostomy pouch
• The NHS spends more than £630 million each year in England
o Products such as stoma appliances, incontinence pads and dressings
• Growing problemo Increasing bowel cancer incidence
o Falling mortality rates
o Increasing population
o Increased life expectancy
Inevitably will lead to the creation of more stomas
Stoma patients
• Major concern amongst stoma patients
• Changing and disposing of their ostomy device
o Current disposal practices are crude and unhygienic
o Results in:
 Poor psychological adjustment
 Impaired quality of life
 Social withdrawal
Environmental impact
• In the UK aloneo 36.5 million used stoma pouches are disposed off every year
o Primarily to landfill sites
• Some diseases found in faecal matter
o Toxoplasmosis, tape worm, hook warm
o Can survive for up to 10 years
• Faecal contamination can include
o Hepatitis A, B or C, fungal spores, worm infestations
o
A number of pathogenic organisms and other infectious diseases
Waste disposal- flushability
• Landfill sites are decreasing in number
o Limited biodegradation in landfill (if any?)
• Incineration?
• Contaminated fabrics?
• Massive infrastructure already in place
o Sewage farm - an industrial biodegradation process
• Disposable nonwoven products being brought to market
o Flushability of products – not as significant in design
o Disposable products have revolutionised modern lifestyle
o Need to address waste management issues
Present state-of-the-art
•Only Partially Flushable
•4 layers
Leeds Technology
• First commercially available fully flushable ostomy pouch
• User perspective
o No soiled waste to carry away from the toilet
o Removing many of the concerns related to-
 Lack of discretion and fear of exposure
 psychological issues, social withdrawal
 extended dependence on NHS nursing
• The novelty of this product
o Capture a significant proportion of the current market
Does it really matter…
• UK is managed centrally- NHS
• Project is in collaboration with Welland Medical
o British Company
o 32 distributers worldwide
o Direct exploitation of the market
Market size
• The market for ostomy and incontinence products
• Steady, large and growing market
• Projected to reach $11.1 billion by the year 2015
• The largest markets for ostomy products
o The United States, Japan and Europe
• The European Market
o Worth between $780 million and $1 billion
o Growing rates 5-7%
o United Kingdom accounted for more than 75% of the European market
Product performance
Chronic Kidney Diseases (CKD)
How big is the problem?
• CKD- In England, between 2009-2010
o More than 1.8 million people have been diagnosed
o Further million people- not yet been officially diagnosed
o Only cure- kidney transplantation
o Significantly reduced quality of life
o And associated diseases (e.g. cardiovascular diseases)
o High mortality rates
• For NHS
o 2009-2010- £1.64 billion (renal problems)
CKD
• Kidney filters waste products from the blood
o Excretes them via the formation of urine
• Malfunction or failure of the kidney
o Metabolic and dietary waste products gradually
accumulate within the body (Uremic Toxins)
o Results in malfunction of cells and organs
o Over 150 different toxins ((European Uremic Toxin Work
Group)
Chronic Kidney Diseases (CKD)
Uremic toxins
Uremic Toxins
Water soluble,
low mol. wt.
Middle molecular
weight
(e.g. urea and creatinine)
(e.g. β2-microglobulin and cytokines)
Protein bound
(e.g. indolic and phenolic
compounds)
Fundamental approach for treatmentIs the removal of these toxins from the blood.
Current treatment
• Haemodialysis- widely used in the treatment of CKD
o Artificial removal processes
o To mimic the natural function of the kidney
Haemofiltration and Haemodiafiltration
None capable of effectively remove all types of
toxins from the blood
Project at Leeds
Been identified to attribute to cardiovascular
disease and progression of kidney failure
Project at Leeds
• Clinical need to remove large protein bound molecule is clear
• Our approach
o With an additional novel filter system
o Stable bonding reagent (synthesised at Leeds)
o Fabricated using nano-technology
o This can specifically capture target molecules (uremic
toxins)
The Design
Advantages
• Improvement in patients’ quality of life
o By reducing cardiovascular diseases
• Reduced mortality rates
• Reduced treatment time frequency
• An optimised dialysis treatment
o Contribute to cost reduction within the health care sector
Wound Dressing
Wound dressing
Chronic wounds: 6.5 million
people - $25 billion
Naturally derived
compounds?
Impaired healing – Inflammation
stage is prolonged
Alternative metals, e.g. zinc as
well as non-metal bactericides
Resistance to
antibiotics
Silver impregnated
dressings
Nature…
Why antimicrobial?
Fundamental work on the
delivery mechanism…
Hybrid Nanofibre Nonwovens from Chitosan/Cellulose Acetate
G. Salihu, P.Goswami, and S. Russell, “Hybrid electrospun nonwovens from chitosan/cellulose
acetate,” Cellulose, vol. 19, no. 3, pp. 739–749, 2012.
Stratification approach to
Healthcare
Let’s consider three very good friends…
MSc Medical Textiles
p.goswami@leeds.ac.uk
Thank you
Any Questions?