wounds that heal faster and become less infected thanks to movement

Technology is revolutionizing medicine, by offering new remedies and treatments, but also by reinventing classic procedures such as bandages or sutures. Surgical robots already used in Spain to achieve greater precision in the coming years could use a new type of sutures like those created by MIT that detect inflammation or those others capable of Accelerate wound healing and surgical procedures with electricity.

Some medical processes such as wound healing have not evolved for a long time, the current use of sutures, poultices and ointments is an example. However, recent research projects have attempted to change this situation. Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania and Rutgers University (both in the United States) this year proposed the use of smart bandages that apply electrotherapy to wounds to heal them more quickly, in addition to transmitting information to the doctor.

These smart bandages, however, cannot treat internal wounds, but require the help of sutures. Also using electricity, a team from Donghua University in China presented a new type of biodegradable suture that accelerates wound healing and reduces the appearance of infections.

Electric sutures

Sutures serve a primary function in medicine: holding tissues together while the wound heals. A passive process that patiently waits for nature to take its course, except for the use of medications or creams that help the patient.

Unlike traditional sutures, where movement is harmful and the patient is advised to rest, in this case some degree of activity can be beneficial for healing. The suture invented by this research team electrically stimulates the wound when subjected to tension.

This can occur during movement and speed up the healing process, while decreasing the risk of infection. In this way, a passive system like this could become an active remedy which accelerates the recovery of the body thanks to new advances. The results of this study were published in the journal Nature Communications.

The idea of ​​healing a wound through electrical stimulation is not new in medicine. This promotes healing through several mechanisms, including promoting the migration of cells to the area. However, the technique of its application by suture is an innovative proposition.

For this, heYou The new suture threads are composed of specialized mechanoelectric fibers. When the core layer and the outer fiber touch and separate due to movement, electric fields are generated. When muscles relax and contract, opposite loads are created in the middle and outer layer of the suture, electricity is generated, according to the triboelectric effect.

The process takes place passively while the patient moves and lives as normal a life as possible. Once the treatment is completed, the patient does not need further intervention, since the materials used in These sutures are bioresorbable. Even if it is used during internal surgeries, it should be able to break down safely in the body.

Wounds heal faster

The team carried out a series of suturing experiments, using artificial muscle fibers and injured rats. Through experiments in a petri dish, it was discovered that cell migration rates to the area around the sutures increased when an electric field was present compared to when it was not, while electrical stimulation also reduced bacterial growth.

The team explains in its scientific article that the wound used for the test occupied 69% of the surface, after applying electric sutures for 24 hours, this damage was reduced to only 10.8%. Instead, traditional sutures only reduced the wound by up to 32.6% over the same period.

In the next phase, it was discovered that rodents They healed after 10 days. The electric sutures closed the rats’ wounds 96.5%, while the control sutures closed only 60.4% during this time.

Closing the wound is not the only goal, it is also aimed at preventing the occurrence of infections as much as possible. The researchers disinfected the wounds daily, but even without daily wound disinfection. the number of bacteria remained low in rats treated with electrosuture, suggesting that suturing could potentially reduce postoperative infections.

The study must still pass the testing phase in a clinical setting to evaluate the effectiveness of these sutures in humans, but the results are interesting and as they indicate “if successful, they could constitute a safe alternative, cheap and effective than traditional sutures. .