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Friday 6 October 2017

New surgical glue heals wounds in 60 seconds




A highly elastic and adhesive surgical glue that quickly seals wounds without the need for common staples or sutures could transform how surgeries are performed.
Biomedical engineers from the University of Sydney and the US collaborated on the development of the potentially life-saving surgical glue, called MeTro.
MeTro’s high elasticity makes it ideal for sealing wounds in body tissues that continually expand and relax – such as lungs, hearts and arteries – that are otherwise at risk of re-opening.
The material also works on internal wounds that are often in hard-to-reach areas and have typically required staples or sutures due to surrounding body fluid hampering the effectiveness of other sealants.
MeTro sets in just 60 seconds once treated with UV light, and the technology has a built-in degrading enzyme which can be modified to determine how long the sealant lasts – from hours to months, in order to allow adequate time for the wound to heal.
The liquid or gel-like material has quickly and successfully sealed incisions in the arteries and lungs of rodents and the lungs of pigs, without the need for sutures and staples.
The results are published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
MeTro combines the natural elastic protein technologies developed in collaboration with author and University of Sydney McCaughey chair in biochemistry professor Anthony Weiss, with light-sensitive molecules developed in collaboration with author and director of the biomaterials innovation research centre at Harvard Medical School professor Ali Khademhosseini.
Lead author of the study, assistant professor Nasim Annabi from the department of chemical engineering at Northeastern University, oversaw the application of MeTro in a variety of clinical settings and conditions.
The beauty of the MeTro formulation is that, as soon as it comes in contact with tissue surfaces, it solidifies into a gel-like phase without running away,” said Annabi.

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