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Mending Hearts With Light-Activated Glue

Posted by Soulskill on from the only-if-you're-out-of-duct-tape dept.

the_newsbeagle writes "When surgeons set out to repair holes in the walls of the heart's chambers or in blood vessels, they often do invasive open-heart surgery and use sutures, staples, and glue to keep a patch in place. But the sutures and staples are a rough fix, and many of the glues on the market today don't work well on wet tissue that's continually flexed by the heart's contractions and the movement of pumping blood. Today biomaterial researchers announced a new light-activated glue that could make surgery less invasive, quicker, and easier. The adhesive was inspired by slugs' and sandcastle worms' sticky secretions, which work underwater, and it can be applied with slender tools during minimally invasive surgery. A flash of UV light then sets the glue, which bends and flexes with the tissue."

5 of 38 comments (clear)

  1. Reminds me of some dental technology by cold+fjord · · Score: 4, Informative

    Light-activated resin

    --
    much of left-wing thought is a kind of playing with fire by people who don't even know that fire is hot - George Orwell
  2. Finally getting laid? by bob_super · · Score: 4, Funny

    "I'm the world's leading researcher in the field of slugs' and sandcastle worms' "
    just got replaced by:
    "My research is used by heart surgeons to save lives and ease recovery"

    Yep, someone's life just got a lot easier at parties...

  3. Weird science by bob_super · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Remember that one the next time some politician promises to defund some oddball research because "who cares about slugs, worms or jellyfish".

    1. Re:Weird science by DoofusOfDeath · · Score: 4, Informative

      One would think, but no. The prime wrong-doer in this case is Sen. Tom Coburn, of "shrimp on treadmills" mischaracterization infamy. NPR did a story on this recently.

      It appears that Coburn knowingly omits context that would put these research projects in a much different light. Coburn is a prime example of politicians who appear to put politics above governance. He truly makes me wish there was a law which would put a bullet in any Congressman who made sophistic arguments in the course of deliberation.

  4. Don't dentists use this? by wcrowe · · Score: 4, Informative

    I cracked a tooth and got a crown a couple of years ago, and this is how the crown was attached, using a light-activated adhesive.

    --
    Proverbs 21:19