Thin polymer film could render sutures in brain surgery obsolete

New Materials Asia, Feb, 2008

A thin polymer film that seals surgical wounds could make sutures a relic of medical history has been developed by scientists from Australia's University of New South Wales (UNSW).

Measuring just 50 [micro]m, the film is placed on a surgical wound and exposed to an infrared laser, which heats the film just enough to meld it and the tissue, thus perfectly sealing the wound. Known as Surgilux, the device's rawmaterial is extracted fromcrab shells and has Food and Drug Administration approval in the USA.

Early test results indicate that it has great potential for use in brain and nerve surgery because it can avoid the numerous disadvantages of invasive stitches and sutures, which can fail to seal and act as a source of infection. Up to 11% of brain surgery patients have to return for repeat surgery due to leakage of cerebro-spinal fluid (CSF) and other complications arising from sutures.

Surgical sutures date back some 4000 years, so a new approach is long overdue, according to one of the device's inventors and leader of the Biopolymer Research Group, UNSW scientist John Foster.

"Others have tried surgical glues but these are mainly gel-like so bonding to the tissue is uneven, often resulting in leakages and they're not easy to use. The strongest surgical glue is so toxic that it's limited to external applications," says Foster. "Other devices use ultraviolet [UV] light to effect rather poor sealing, but UV rays are damaging to living cells. The beauty of this is that infrared laser doesn't cause any tissue damage. Better still, Surgilux has anti-microbial properties, which deters post-operative infections."

Foster and his team are working with microsurgeon Marcus Stoodley who specializes in nerve repair. Based at the Prince of Wales Hospital, Stoodley is excited about early test results. "Surgilux is well suited to repairing damaged nerves because the gold standard - sutures - inevitably cause damage to nerves and there is always some permanent loss of function," he said. "Our test results with rats have shown some degree of permanent nerve recovery within six weeks of operating."

For further information, contact: The University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales 2052, Australia; tel 61-2-9385-1000; Internet: www.unsw.edu.au