Will the clinical evaluations show that two segments of intestine can be glued to each other? Will the device provide a good seal that doesn’t leak? Does the concept need more development and incubation?
…Geckos have millions of hair-like structures on each foot pad, which allow them to “stick” on smooth surfaces, even glass.
Inspired by the feet of the agile little reptile, researchers at Harvard-MIT used nanotechnology to mould a similar pattern for a polymer bandage, covered with tiny pillars each 100 times finer than a human hair.
It’s not the first time that a gecko-like tape has been made. What’s different about this one is that it’s got a sugar-based adhesive to keep it firmly in place - and its inventors think that could usher in a new means of repairing tears in organs and other tissues from surgery or injury.
While surgeons have sutures and staples to make repairs, they are not always the best option for certain operations, co-creator Jeff Karp, a member of the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology, said from Boston.
There is a great need for an easy-to-use adhesive tape that could either replace sutures and staples in some cases, or augment them in others, said Karp, who grew up in Peterborough, Ont…
The bandage would have myriad applications, Karp suggested, from wrapping around and resealing the intestine after removal of a diseased segment to plugging a hole in the bladder to healing diabetic skin ulcers.
And because the tape can be folded and unfolded, it could be a godsend in minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery. Performed through a very small incision and guided by a scope, suturing can be particularly challenging for even the most skilled of surgeons.
The researchers tested their gecko-inspired bandage in a hernia-like repair in laboratory rats and found the adhesive tape had twice the strength as similar material without the glue. The rats had only a mild inflammatory response to the adhesive, making it within acceptable limits for use in humans.
Karp said the bandage could also be imbued with anti-inflammatory or antibiotic drugs that would slowly release to aid healing…
The work is described in Monday’s online issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Dr. Tony Khoury, chief of urology at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children, called the idea an exciting concept but one that needs thorough testing in people…
Still, Khoury said if proved successful, such an adhesive tape would be a huge boon for surgeons performing laparoscopic surgeries because it would avoid the difficulties inherent in suturing in a tightly confined space…
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