new bandage for non-healing wounds

[Guest guest]

" One of the real virtues of the product is that it is going to be

very cheap, " said Yager, who explained the new dressings will add a

couple of cents a pound to the cost of bandages now on the market.

 

http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,57234,00.html

 

Full text below.

 

Alobar

 

 

 

02:00 AM Jan. 28, 2003 PT

 

A new smart bandage, designed to selectively pinpoint and absorb

destructive enzymes oozing from non-healing wounds, may soon become a

staple in hospital supply cabinets.

 

By eliminating these enzymes, the new cotton dressing accelerates the

healing process for bedsores, diabetic foot sores and other wounds

that resist conventional treatments.

 

The potential market for the dressing is promising, its makers say.

More than a million Americans suffer from non-healing wounds

annually, at a cost of $750 million.

The smart bandage's ability to meet this market need rests on its

success in targeting an enzyme called elastase.

 

" Elastase is designed to kill bacteria in an infected wound and help

clean out tissue that is devitalized, " said one of the collaborators

in the project, Dr. Dorne Yager of the Department of Surgery at the

Virginia Commonwealth University.

 

The trouble is that non-healing wounds have an excess of elastase --

more than 20 times the normal level -- and in these quantities it can

turn nasty.

 

" If these enzymes are over-exuberant, then they do damage to healthy

tissue, as they can't tell the difference between healthy and

unhealthy tissue, " Yager said. " This slows down the healing process. "

 

The job of the new bandage is to remove this excess elastase, but

still retain qualities of the cotton such as absorbency and air

permeability. The smart-bandage team accomplished this by altering

the chemical structure of the cotton.

 

" We modified the cotton's cellulose in such a way that it binds the

enzyme, " said Dr. Vincent Edwards, a chemist in the cotton textile

chemistry research unit of the Agricultural Research Service. Edwards

is the lead researcher on the project.

 

Yager said the idea was to make simple changes in the cell structure

of the cotton so that it absorbs in a specific way.

 

" The cotton's cellulose is given a negative charge, " he said. " As the

elastase has a positive charge, the cotton acts as a magnet and

absorbs the elastase. "

 

Another advantage of the smart bandages is that they can be

manufactured in a regular cotton mill so the ultimate cost will be

kept within reasonable limits.

 

" One of the real virtues of the product is that it is going to be

very cheap, " said Yager, who explained the new dressings will add a

couple of cents a pound to the cost of bandages now on the market.

 

Dr. Elizabeth Lee, of the Methodist Hospital Wound Care Center in

Arcadia, California, said the inexpensiveness of the bandage was an

important feature.

 

" Most of our patients are elderly, and cost is a big issue to them, "

she said.

 

Dr. Timothy Shea of the John Muir Wound Care Center in Concord,

California, said the bandages could play an important role in the

treatment non-healing wounds, but that they are not a magic cure-all.

 

" By itself it would not be enough, " he said. " It would have to be

used in combination with other wound-care treatments, " such as wound

cleansing and infection control.

 

The team developing the smart bandage has yet to test its product on

a human patient. However, Edwards said that test tube experiments

have had positive results.

 

Clinical trials will begin this year, he said. If those trials are

successful, the process of manufacturing the bandages could begin in

a year.