Article: "Suture of the Future Fights Infection"
November 28, 2021
Chemical engineers at Technion – Israel Institute of Technology have created a smart dressing free of sutures to bind wounds together, fight off infection, and report the condition of the wound straight to doctors’ computers. The dressing is applied before surgery to the site of the planned incision, and the incision is made through the dressing itself. When ready to bind the wound, the two ends of the wound will be brought together and the device will bind itself back together within three seconds, holding the wound together as well.
After surgery is complete, the device constantly monitors the area of the wound for any signs of infection, tracking changes in several variables such as temperature, pH, and glucose levels, among others, automatically sending reports to the smartphone or computer of healthcare personnel. The dressing also releases antibiotics onto the wound area, preventing infection. In experiments, wounds closed with the new dressing healed just as fast as those bound with sutures, and saw reduced rates of infection post-surgery.
To read the full article, click here: https://www.technion.ac.il/en/2021/11/self-healing-polymer-wound-suture/
*Image used is from the original news article published by Technion - Israel Institute of Technology. Self-healing, antibacterial, and multifunctional wound dressing in action.