Hydrogel used for Prevention of Post-Surgical Cardiac Complications

Jun, 2021 - By SMI

 Scientists developed a solution called hydrogel, which is used after a cardiac surgery for prevention of certain cardiac complications such as cardiac adhesions.

A team of the University of California at San Diego developed new hydrogel to prevent and cure the occurrence of cardiac adhesions.  Cardiac adhesions are the formation of certain scar tissues on heart, which would stick to surrounding tissues in sometime. These are certain complications in the heart, which are formed after an open-heart surgery. These are not always serious complications, however in some cases cardiac adhesions could prevent the normal functioning of the heart. Adhesions could also lead to improper performance of heart surgeries later. The complication is more dangerous in children, as their heart is in growing stage and may require multiple procedures for treatment.

The new hydrogel is designed with  two different kinds of solutions par. The first one is polyethylene glycol (PEG), which is a water-soluble polymer base material. The other one is an organic compound known as catechol containing L-dopa, which is muscle-biding amino acid. These are two different solutions of PEG, which combine together to form a hydrogel and used for the treatment of cardiac adhesions.

The infrastructure of the applicator device consists of separate chambers where the two different PEG formations are contained. After the completion of the heart surgeries, the applicator device is used to spray the solution, two kinds of PEG, onto the required surface of the muscles. When two kinds of PEG mix and their molecules interact with each other, they form an elastic hydrogel that leads to cardiac tissues binding. The hydrogel acts as a barrier to the occurrence of heart adhesions. It is harmless and doesn’t cause any inflammation in the heart. It can get dissolved within 6-8 weeks after application, which is much longer period than adhesion forming post-surgical period. However, the hydrogel allows the normal functioning of contraction and relaxation of the heart.