Cotton Candy for Difficult Wounds

This is actually wonderful newsand it means that we can bridge damaged flesh in such a way as to encouragefull healing.

Third degree burns usually haveloss of flesh besides the skin itself.  Cleaningand replacing the removed flesh is obvious called for and using this to act as filleris ideal.  Other protocols have been introducedand it can now be said that the most severe damage can now be effectivelyrepaired.

Plastic surgery will have a heydaywith this also as we can now remove scar tissue directly and remodel flesh to replacethat lost.

The apparent intractable problemsassociate with severe burns are on the verge of been remedied.

Cotton candy-like material used to heal difficult wounds

By BenCoxworth

13:50 May 4, 2011

http://www.gizmag.com/cotton-candy-like-material-used-to-heal-wounds/18564/

DermaFuse, a glass nanofiber material that looks like cotton candy, hasbeen shown to speed healing in difficult-to-treat wounds

Many diabetics suffer from a condition known as venous stasis, whichcan result in wounds on their extremities that remain unhealed for up toseveral years – if infection sets in, amputation of the limb is sometimes evennecessary. Such wounds can sometimes be treated with vacuum-assisted systems,but the equipment required is expensive, and must be carried by the patientat all times. In clinical trials conducted last year, however, human venousstasis wounds were quickly and thoroughly healed with an inexpensive new glassnanofiber material, that looks like cotton candy.

           

Known as "DermaFuse," the material is made from borate glassby the Mo-Sci Corporation in Rolla, Missouri. Similar"bioglass" materials do already exist, but they are made from silicaand are used in the regeneration of hard tissues, such as bone. Boron has beenshown to react to body fluids considerably faster than silica, and to beeffective against harmful bacteria, which is why Mo-Sci chose to use it inDermaFuse.

The material is designed to mimic the microstructure of fibrin, whichis one of the main components of blood clots. Like fibrin, the glass fiberstrap blood platelets, and provide a scaffolding for the wound covering to formacross. DermaFuse is also rich in calcium, which has been shown to speedhealing by assisting the migration of epidermal cells to the wound site.

As the wound heals, the fibers are absorbed by the patient's body –little if any scarring results, and no bandages or sutures need to be removed.

After initial animal trials, DermaFuse was tried out on a group of 12human venous stasis patients in 2010. Venous stasis is caused by poor bloodcirculation in the extremities, which results in fluid pooling in those areas(especially the lower legs) and creating pressure on the skin. When the skincracks or receives a small wound and the fluid weeps out, an enzyme within thefluid erodes the skin and makes the wound larger, while also making healingdifficult.

In the human trials, a nurse packed the material into the patients'wounds, then added a protective secondary covering. After a few months, thewounds on eight of the patients were fully healed, while the other four werereportedly progressing well.

Mo-Sci is nowplanning on expanded human trials in the coming months. It is hoped thatDermaFuse could eventually also be used to treat injuries such as burns, orused as a field dressing by ambulance crews and army medics.

The research was just published in the bulletin of The American Ceramic Society.