New Wound Dressing, Full of Antibiotics, Dissolves When Wound Has Healed

This article introduced the new technique that Professor Meital Zilberman from Tel Aviv University to treat and dress burn wounds. Almost 70% of burn victims die with the current techniques being used to heal the wounds. Yet, these deaths are normally caused not by the burn itself, but by the infections and bacteria that invades the body during the healing process.

The new wound dressing is fibers that contain antibiotics in them and dissolve when the wound is healed. The application of antibiotics directly in the fibers allows the wound to heal faster (it has been found to begin fighting infection after only two days).

Although it seems like an obvious approach to heal the wound, it takes a lot more thought than one may think. The fibers essentially need to work exactly like skin, absorbing moisture but still act as a shield to the body. The fibers need to allow some fluid that the wound releases as it heals to leave the body. If this happens too fast, then the wound can dry and not heal properly. If it happens too slow, then the wound has an even higher risk of infection.

The direct application of the antibiotics to the wound allows a higher dose of drugs to be applied and therefore yield a shorter healing time. This also allows the fibers to kill some of the bacteria before it even enters the body. The fact that the fibers dissolves when the healing process is over is really great because the doctors do not need to go in and clean or redress the wound during the healing process.

The clinical trials for these fibers are in the early stages and Professor Zilberman is hoping to get these fibers through them successfully.

I thought this article was really interesting because it talked directly about the types of products we will be engineering as biomedical engineers. The fact that we can make a fiber that contains medicine directly in it is really amazing because it needs to be able to mimic the body's actions and properties, which we know to be very complex. I also thought it was interesting because Professor Zilberman found a way to make the fibers dissolve in the body after its task is over. The fact that biodegradable materials can be applied to the body is also really fascinating.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091117124015.htm

Jessica Sabbagh

VTPP 434-502