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At 5-foot-5 and 332 pounds, Karen Hadden contemplated gastric bypass surgery to lose weight and improve her health.

But the 48-year-old piping designer was nervous about the potential complications, whi*****lude leaks and bleeding, a narrowing of the small intestine called stricture, and even death.

"You always hear about leaks in gastric bypass surgery," says the mother of two and grandmother of three from Greer. "And I was worried I'd end up with stricture."

She was less apprehensive, though, when she learned her doctor would be using a new textile-based product that reinforces the surgical staples.

"I was glad he was using something to help reinforce the staple lines," says Hadden, who has lost 80 pounds between her pre-surgery diet and the operation. "That made me feel safer."

The product is Seamguard, a synthetic material similar to dissolving sutures manufactured by Delaware-based W.L. Gore & Associates, best known for developing Gore-Tex.

"This is a bio-absorbable staple line reinforcement material which recently found an application in laparoscopic surgery," says Dr. Eric Bour, a surgeon with Greenville Hospital System's University Medical Group, Department of Surgery-Bariatric and Minimally Invasive Surgery.

"It is placed onto the stapling device, inserted into the body and when the stapling device is fired," he says, "the material creates a sandwich around the tissue."

The material reduces staple line leaks and bleeding, as well as stricture, all common complications of gastric bypass surgery that could lead to additional surgery and hospitalizations, he says. Since using Seamguard, Bour says, the incidence of stricture among his patients has dropped from between 7 percent and 9 percent to less than 1 percent.

"It's made a huge impact on our practice," said Bour. "There clearly will be a broader use of this material in bariatric surgery because of the problem with post operative strictures."

The material is also used for surgery on the lung and small bowel now, says Bour. But he envisions a day when it will be used for a wider variety of surgeries.

"Already there are a variety of uses (of textiles) in health care," says Dr. Ken Webb, a researcher and assistant professor of bioengineering at Clemson University.

"I believe the future is in incorporating more bioactive molecules, proteins that can promote blood vessel formation and enhance the healing process," he adds. "That's where the opportunity lies as far as I'm concerned."

Webb is studying biodegradable polymers, similar to the material sutures are made of, that can be used for internal scaffolding to support torn tendons and ligaments as they heal. Even more tantalizing is the prospect of using fibers coated with molecules to help regenerate tissue in spinal cord injuries.

"In the spinal cord," he explains, "they would implant the fibers to the site of injury with the idea that they would help the damaged nerve regenerate and reconnect with their targets and ultimately restore sensation and movement."

Such a product is at least a decade off, Webb says. But Clemson has extensive experience in textile resear*****luding in some unique fibers, he says. And next year it's opening a bioengineering research center at GHS's Patewood campus to foster clinical application of products it's developing.

Textiles are used in surgical meshes and vascular grafts now, Webb says, and there are dozens of other potential applications. So could innovative medical applications revive South Carolina's ailing textile industry? Webb thinks it's possible.

"There are great opportunities for high value-added products in the future, and to produce them in South Carolina," he said. "Potentially, I think there's opportunity for growth."