Material Of Dissolvable Sutures
Can Treat Brain Infections
For centuries, plastic
surgeons, obstetricians, urologists, dentists and oral
surgeons and even veterinarians have used stitches to
close up the gashes, cuts and surgical incisions. Now,
many physicians are using some form of dissolvable
stitches (also called absorbable sutures). The great
thing about dissolvable stitches is that they can be used
on internal or external wounds.
What Is Dissolvable
Stitches?
To a human’s body, stitches
are a foreign substance, and the body is programmed to
destroy foreign substances. Dissolvable stitches are made
from natural materials, such as processed collagen (animal
intestines), silk and hair, as well as some synthetic
materials that the body can break down. This allows the
body to dissolve the stitches over time. Usually, by the
time the stitches are dissolved, the wound is completely
healed.
Occasionally, a stitch won’t
dissolve completely. This usually occurs when part of the
stitch is left on the outside of the body. There, the
body’s fluids cannot dissolve and decompose the stitch, so
it remains intact. A doctor can easily remove the
remaining piece of stitch once the wound is closed.
Dissolvable sutures differ
from non-absorbable stitches as they are:
A plastic material already
used in absorbable surgical sutures and other medical
devices shows promise for continuous administration of
antibiotics to patients with brain infections. Scientists
are reporting in a new study. Use of the material, placed
directly on the brain’s surface, can reduce the need for
weeks of costly hospital stays.
Infections are
life-threatening complications that occur in about 5-10 %
of patients who have brain surgery. Current treatment
involves intravenous antibiotics for up to eight weeks and
extended, costly hospital stays. Previous studies showed
that drug-delivering plastics could release antibiotics
directly into the brain. However, additional surgery is
needed to remove the plastic when treatment finished.
Biodegradable version using a dissolvable plastic called
PLGA (Poly(lactic -co-glycolic acid)) can be developed for
this purpose.
PLGA fibers release vancomycin,
a powerful antibiotic that kills many microbes. The fibers
successfully release vancomycin for more than eight weeks
in the brain and they do so without apparent side effects.
(Ref:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/264545.php
http://www.ask.com/question/how-long-do-dissolvablesutures-take-to-dissolve)
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