” Our material showed much better-improved security and bleeding control performance than other industrial products. Beyond bleeding control, our product might one day replace wound sutures or deliver drugs to supply healing effects,” states senior author Professor Jianyu Li.
Reference: “Liquid-infused microstructured bioadhesives stop non-compressible hemorrhage” by Guangyu Bao, Qiman Gao, Massimo Cau, Nabil Ali-Mohamad, Mitchell Strong, Shuaibing Jiang, Zhen Yang, Amin Valiei, Zhenwei Ma, Marco Amabili, Zu-Hua Gao, Luc Mongeau, Christian Kastrup and Jianyu Li, 26 August 2022, Nature Communications.DOI: 10.1038/ s41467-022-32803-1.
The new medical adhesive was inspired by flatworms.
McGill University researchers have developed a medical adhesive influenced by nature that may save lives.
Around 2 million individuals every year worldwide pass away from hemorrhage or blood loss. More than 30% of injury deaths are brought on by uncontrolled hemorrhaging. To stop the bleeding, medical professionals often apply pressure to the wound and seal it with medical glue. But what happens when applying pressure is challenging or can make matters worse? Or the wounds surface is too bloody for glue? Taking motivation from nature, McGill University researchers developed a medical adhesive that could conserve lives, imitated structures discovered in marine organisms such as flatworms and mussels.
” When applied to the bleeding site, the new adhesive usages suction to take in blood, clear the surface area for adhesion, and bond to the tissue providing a physical seal. The entire application process is fast and pressure-free, which appropriates for non-compressible hemorrhage scenarios, which are typically deadly,” says lead author Guangyu Bao, a just recently finished Ph.D. student under the supervision of Professor Jianyu Li of the Department of Mechanical Engineering.
In putting the new technology to the test, the researchers discovered that the adhesive promotes blood coagulation. The adhesive can also be removed without triggering re-bleeding or perhaps left inside the body to be soaked up.