Surgical adhesives for laser-assisted wound closure

Solid protein solder-doped polymer membranes were developed for laser-assisted tissue repair. Biodegradable polymer membranes of controlled porosity were fabricated with poly(L-lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA), poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG), and salt using a solvent-casting and particulate-leaching technique. The membranes provided a porous scaffold that readily absorbed the traditional protein solder composed of serum albumin, indocyanine green dye, and de-ionized water. In vitro investigations were conducted to the influence of various processing parameters on the strength of sue repairs formed using the new membranes. These parameters included PLGA copolymer and PLGA/PEG blend ratios, membrane size, initial albumin weight fraction, and laser irradiance used to nature the solder. Altering the PLGA copolymer ratio had little on repair strength, however such variations are known to the degradation rate of the membranes. The repair strength increased with increased membrane pore size and bovine serum albumin concentration. The addition of PEG during the membrane casting increased the flexibility of the membranes but not necessarily the repair strength. Typically, the repair strength increased with irradiance from 12 to 18 W/cm(2). The new solder-doped membranes provided all of the benefits associated with solid protein solders including high repair strength and improved edge coaptation. in addition, the flexible, moldable nature of the new membranes offers the capability of tailoring the membranes to a wide range of clinically relevant geometries. (C) 2001 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers.