40I-PCL (surgical threads)

2023: Product Announcement

In mid-February 2023, a team of specialists from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology presented a smart antimicrobial 40I-PCL seam that will monitor the condition of the patient's wound after surgery and speed up the patient's recovery. This may be particularly useful for locating internal sutures and for detecting infected wounds within the body without the need for surgery.

Surgical sutures, or sutures, are used to close wounds after injuries or operations and to maintain the healing process. However, sutured wounds are susceptible to infection, with infections in surgical sites occurring in 2-4% of patients.

As of February 2023, there are no commercial contrast agents that can be used in stitches due to toxicity issues. To circumvent this problem, scientists at Melbourne's Royal Institute of Technology use iodine-conjugated carbon particles (ICPs). Carbon nanoparticles are biocompatible, cheap and easily manufactured in the laboratory, as well as inherently fluorescent and antibacterial. The addition of iodine provides X-ray visibility and improved antimicrobial properties while reducing iodine toxicity by controlling the release of ICPs. The team implemented these ICPs into the polycaprolactone suture (PCL) to create I-PCL sutures.

In mid-February 2023, a team of specialists from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology unveiled a smart antimicrobial seam 40I-PCL

Describing their work in the medical publication OpenNano, the researchers first assessed the stability of I-PCL to complete seam degradation. They immersed the sutures in phosphate buffered saline (PBS) at 37 ° C for 22 days with mild shaking and quantified the concentration of iodine in PBS. The initial high-speed release of ICP was observed in the first 24 hours. This was followed by a significant drop in ICP concentration and a slow, sustained release over time. Such a dramatic release of ICP from the suture, scientists say, could prevent pathogen colonization of the wound, and subsequent slow release over a long period of time helps prevent biofilm formation and infection.

The group then investigated the effect of ICP concentration on I-PCL contrast properties by comparing microtomographic images of sutures containing different ICP concentrations. Contrast increased CT with increasing ICP concentration. A seam containing 40% ICP (40I-PCL) showed a contrast 272, 81 and 31% higher than seams with an ICP concentration of 10, 20 and 30%, respectively. By focusing on the seam of the 40I-PCL with the greatest contrast gain, the researchers studied how seam degradation affects its contrast properties. After 22 days in PBS, CT contrast decreased by 18%, which the team believes is acceptable and expected for a degrading suture.

The bacterium methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) is the most common cause of infections at surgical sites, so the researchers examined its interaction with different I-PCL sutures. After 6 hours of incubation at 37 ° C, 30I-PCL killed MRSA 90%, and a higher concentration of 40I-PCL destroyed almost 99% MRSA with no visible biofilm at the seam. In addition to use in surgical sutures, a smart suture can be used to create nets, such as vaginal mesh implants used to treat prolapse.

The researchers concluded that sutures that can be visualized with techniques such as CT and MRI scans can minimize surgical risks, control internal wounds and help surgeons accurately plan surgery if complications that require mesh removal develop. Scientists suggest that the 40I-PCL seam best meets these requirements, providing high visibility in CT, as well as reasonable biocompatibility and excellent antimicrobial properties.^[1]

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