JP2003159322A - Silk nonwoven fabric for medical use - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a gauze for surgical operations which is sufficiently absorptive enough, soft enough to not damage the body tissues and to receive less rejection from the body tissues, and also widely applicable for other medical purposes. <P>SOLUTION: The nonwoven fabric is manufactured by cutting a silk fiber into short fibers of about 1-10 cm not using a binder but employing either a needle punch method or water stream entanglement method. This silk nonwoven fabric is sufficient enough to absorb a liquid and does not damage the body tissues because of its extremely soft quality. Thus, it is suitable for a gauze or the like for surgical operations. Well-purified silk fibers are used for the gauze for surgical operations and either purified or non-purified fibers for sheets or the like. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a medical non-woven fabric used for gauze, bandages, sheets, surgical gowns and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Among what is called surgical gauze,
There are affected area gauze used for tissue protection during surgery, shaku angle gauze (wiper) used for absorption and wiping, and this gauze (dressing) used for surgical procedures.

Surgical gauze has the following roles. Absorption of blood and drainage Partition of surgical site Protection and cushion of tissues, organs and incisions

In order to fulfill these roles, the surgical gauze is required to have the following characteristics. a. High X-ray contrast and easy counting b. Easy to fold and open c. Functionally sufficient dry / wet strength d. Low lint / fray resistance e. Fast liquid absorption and high absorption f. Does not cause trauma to the tissue surface when contacting the tissue g. Optimal liquid retention performance for tissue hydration h. Sterilization possible with water vapor, gas, and radiation i. High-speed machining / low cost j. Compliance with safety and toxicant standards

As a device that can meet such demands,
Currently, spunlace blended with rayon cotton and polyester for strength is used as the affected gauze. A cotton woven cloth gauze is used for dressing for the purpose of absorbing or protecting the wound exudate. In general, this gauze is basically a 30 cm wide web (shakugan), and it is cut or folded according to the size of the wound, but it has drawbacks such as lint after cutting and labor for folding. Exists ("Medical Nonwoven Handbook", supervised by the Japan Society of Medical Instruments, 1994 1
Published by Nanzandou Co., Ltd. in January).

On the other hand, non-woven fabrics are widely used in various medical fields such as gauze, bandages, sheets, and surgical gowns.
Most of the conventionally used non-woven fabrics use synthetic fibers such as nylon and polyester.

Since the conventional cotton thread woven gauze has been used for a long time, its safety has been proved. However, in addition to the drawbacks of the above lint, the liquid absorbency is not always sufficient, so that the bleeding of the wound site is not always possible. When there were many, it was necessary to replace it many times. Further, although the cotton thread gauze seems to be soft at first glance, it has a drawback that it is relatively hard with respect to internal tissues and has fine defects on the surface of internal tissues. Further, cotton fibers are not always sufficiently compatible with internal tissues, and it is unavoidable that a rejection reaction occurs when a part of the fibers remains in the body.

[0008]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and one of the objects of the present invention is that it has sufficient absorbability and does not damage internal tissues. It is intended to provide a surgical gauze which has sufficient softness and has less rejection from internal tissues.
Further, it provides a material that can be widely used for other medical applications.

[0009]

MEANS FOR SOLVING THE PROBLEMS The medical non-woven fabric according to the present invention made to solve the above-mentioned problems has only short fibers obtained by cutting silk fibers into fibers having a length of 1 to 10 cm. It is made by intertwining with the punch method, and the basis weight is 50 ~
It is characterized in that it is 200 g / m ² .

Another medical non-woven fabric according to the present invention made to solve the above-mentioned problems is hydro-entangled only to short fibers obtained by cutting silk fibers to a fiber length of 1 to 10 cm. It is legally entangled and has a basis weight of 20-100
It is characterized in that it is g / m ² .

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION A medical silk nonwoven fabric according to the present invention comprises:
It consists only of short fibers obtained by cutting silk fibers, and does not use a binder (adhesive) for fixing the fibers. The silk fiber may be unscoured or scoured. Unrefined ones can naturally be manufactured at low cost and are therefore suitable for use in sheets, blankets, medical clothes and the like. Further, since there is no concern that chemicals will remain during scouring, it is suitable for applications that require a high degree of chemical exclusion.

On the other hand, the scouring removes part or all of the sericin layer on the surface, and at the same time removes dirt on the surface. Therefore, a high degree of flexibility, softness (without damaging living tissue) and When cleanliness is required, it is desirable to use scoured silk fibers. Silk fibers that have undergone such scouring are used for the surgical gauze such as the affected part gauze, wiper, dressing and the like. However, in this case, sufficient chemical removal treatment is performed after scouring.

The length of the short fibers is about 1 to 10 cm.
If the length is shorter than this, entanglement becomes insufficient and lint tends to occur. In addition, even if the length is longer than this, the entanglement does not proceed well, and the resulting nonwoven fabric has a large amount of fraying. In addition, it is more preferably about 5 to 7 cm.

The entanglement for forming the silk short fibers into the non-woven fabric includes
Any of the needle punching method and the hydroentangling method used for general nonwoven fabric production can be adopted. In the case of the needle punching method, the nonwoven fabric according to the present invention is produced as follows. First, raw silk fibers (long fibers) that have not been refined or have been refined
Is cut into an appropriate length to obtain short fibers. This is carded to remove short fibers and impurities of a predetermined length or less,
Sliver. Before carding, different types of silk fibers may be mixed (mixed). The sliver continuously generated is cut into appropriate lengths by an attenuator. At this time, the sliver is cut off so that the short silk fibers are not cut.

A sliver cut to an appropriate length is placed on a net, and the net is vibrated to form a fleece (accumulation layer of fibers). At that time, give the fleece a little moisture. As a method of giving moisture to the fleece, a method of spraying mist-like water on the fleece or keeping the humidity of the atmosphere high can be used. This removes static electricity due to friction between the silk fibers, prevents separation of the silk fibers due to static electricity, and facilitates formation of the fleece.
Further, in the needle punching process described below, the degree of adhesion between the needle and the fiber is increased to facilitate the entanglement of the fiber.

Next, the rotatable blade supported by the hanging rod is inserted into the moving fleece. The blade rotates as the fleece moves, stirring the silk fibers in the fleece and removing short debris fibers (filter dust). Then, the needle is repeatedly penetrated through the fleece to entangle the fibers to obtain an integrated nonwoven fabric. Finally, a heating roller is pressed to make the thickness uniform and the product is completed.

Further, in the case of the water entanglement method, a high-pressure columnar water flow is jetted to the fleece similarly filtered to entangle the fibers.

As the surgical gauze, either one prepared by the needle punching method or the hydroentanglement method can be used, but it has a liquid retaining ability (ability to absorb and retain liquid such as blood). When importance is attached, the needle punch method is more suitable, and when strength or low lint property is important, the hydroentanglement method is more suitable.

For gauze, the needle punching method produces about 50 to 200 g / m ² , and the hydroentangling method produces about 20 to 100 g / m ² (preferably about 20 to 60 g / m ² ). The unit weight is appropriate. Also,
The length of the silk fiber used as a raw material is set to be slightly longer in the hydroentanglement method than in the needle punch method.

When it is used as a surgical gauze, it is sterilized by heating with a simmel or a Ketter like a conventional gauze. The nonwoven fabric of the present invention is made of silk, but its characteristics do not change as long as it is subjected to the same heat sterilization treatment or gas sterilization treatment (EOG) as the conventional cotton thread gauze. Further, as with the conventional surgical gauze, a urethane thread or the like for X-ray detection may be embedded.

In addition to the surgical gauze described above, the medical non-woven fabric according to the present invention includes a bandage, a base fabric for a patch, a first-aid bandage (also referred to as a wound tape, for example, a band-aid) gauze, a surgical gown, a mask. , Sheets, filters, etc. Of course, it is desirable to appropriately change the basis weight and the like according to each of these uses.

[0022]

[Examples] Silk threads have been conventionally used for surgical sutures, and it has already been proved that there is no problem in terms of human compatibility. It is also known that silk fibers rarely cause allergies. Since the non-woven fabric according to the present invention is composed only of silk fibers, it can be safely used even in a portion that comes into direct contact with the skin or internal tissues.

The results of examining the allergic properties of silk fibers by comparison with rabbit hair will be described below. The experimental method used is as follows. First, 5 mg each of silk fiber and rabbit hair
Are subcutaneously planted in ICR mice (a kind of hybrid mice).
Three weeks later, the same silk fiber or rabbit hair was dissolved in 1000 times its weight in water (0.1% aqueous solution) to inoculate the footpad of the mouse, and the thickness of the footpad and popliteal lymph The strength of the allergic reaction was examined by the weight of the node.

This test was performed twice. The results of the first test are shown in FIG. 1, and the results of the second test are shown in FIG. From FIGS. 1 and 2, in any of the indexes of the thickness of the footpad and the weight of the popliteal lymph node, the increase amount is almost zero in the case of the silk 0.1% solution, whereas the rabbit hair 0 It can be seen that a significant increase appears in the case of the 1% solution. That is, it has been experimentally proved that silk fibers hardly cause allergies.

The non-woven fabric for medical treatment according to the present invention is made of silk, so that it is soft, and even if it wipes internal tissues, it hardly causes fine flaws on its surface. In addition, the silk fiber itself, which is the material, has a large liquid absorption capacity, and the relatively densely gathered non-woven fabric structure can also improve the liquid absorption capacity depending on the structure. A gauze having a liquid absorption capacity about 2 to 5 times that of Therefore, when used as a wiper during surgery, the amount of gauze can be relatively small, and the blood can be sufficiently absorbed even by applying it without wiping as in the conventional case, so that the affected area can be seen clearly and quickly and quickly. It will be a great help in the progress of reliable surgery. Also,
Even if the surface of the internal organs is wiped with the gauze according to the present invention in order to better see the affected area, the tissue surface is rarely scratched. Furthermore, since it does not contain impurities and is composed only of silk fibers that are animal fibers, it does not stimulate them even if they contact internal organs, wounds, etc., and even if some of them remain in the body. There are few problems.

Further, since the natural silk fiber is used as the material, there is no problem of waste disposal after use, unlike a nonwoven fabric using synthetic fiber.

[Brief description of drawings]

[FIG. 1] Test results for examining allergic properties of silk fibers (first time).

[FIG. 2] Test results for examining allergic properties of silk fibers (second time).

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A medical silk non-woven fabric having a basis weight of 50 to 200 g / m ² , which is formed by intertwining only short fibers obtained by cutting silk fibers to a fiber length of 1 to 10 cm by a needle punch method. ^2. A medical silk non-woven fabric having a basis weight of 20 to 100 g / m ² , which is obtained by entangled only short fibers obtained by cutting silk fibers to have a fiber length of 1 to 10 cm by a hydroentangling method. 3. The medical non-woven fabric according to claim ² , which has a basis weight of 20 to 60 g / m ² . 4. The medical non-woven silk fabric according to claim 1, wherein the length of the short silk fibers is 5 to 7 cm. 5. The silk fiber is unrefined silk fiber.
4. The silk non-woven fabric for medical use according to any one of 4 above. 6. The silk fiber is scoured.
The silk non-woven fabric for medical use according to any one of to 4.