Novel Surgical Glue Helps Repair Heart Defects

A flexible, elastic, hydrophobic light-activated adhesive (HLAA) could help seal defects in the heart wall.

Developed by researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital (Boston, MA, USA), HLAA is a blood-resistant surgical glue for the minimally invasive repair of vessels and heart defects, with unique chemical and physical properties that include high viscosity, hydrophobicity, and on-demand curing. Based on a mixture of easily metabolized glycerol and sebacic acid, the adhesive can be brushed on a biological surface and set in seconds with a short application of ultraviolet (UV) light. In a porcine model the HLAA adhesive succeeded in providing a strong hemostatic seal of high-pressure large blood vessels and cardiac wall defects.


The HLAA-coated patches were attached to the interventricular septum in a beating porcine heart and were able to resist supraphysiologic pressures by remaining attached for 24 hours. Unlike glues that work through a chemical reaction, HLAA works by mechanical means, becoming physically entangled with collagen and other proteins on the tissue surface. The researchers suggest that the adhesive could be used for the repair of vascular defects and achieving surgical hemostasis in human intracardiac interventions and other surgical applications. The study was published in the January 8, 2014, issue of Science Translational Medicine.

“Sutures and staples have major drawbacks. Staples, which work by piercing tissue, can cause damage, and putting in sutures is time consuming,” said lead author Jeffrey Karp, PhD, of the division of biomedical engineering. “Replacing these tools with rubbery, fast-acting adhesives could help make surgeries faster and less invasive, and potentially prevent complications.”

The HLAA cardiac adhesive is being developed as a commercial product by Gecko Biomedical (Paris, France).

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