wound-material-chronic-16.html
Annual Report 201
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17 membrane can help patients with chronic
wound
s most of us take for granted the amazing ability of our skin to heal itself. yet, the reality for the 6.5 million patients affect- ed by chronic
wound
s in the us in 2008 was quite different. at that time, it was estimated that around usd 25 billion was spent annually on treating chronic
wound
s. and due to the ageing popu- lation and a sharp rise in widespread diseases such as diabetes and obesity, the numbers are growing rapidly. by mixing
silicone
with glycerol, former phd student, now postdoc at the danish polymer centre (dpc) piotr
mazurek
, has developed a completely new material which may solve 7 out of 8 of the issues on a recent ?wish list? for the
wound
dressings of the future, providing a better and more cost-efficient solution. low price, high impact glycerol is abundant in the chemical in- dustry and therefore very cheap. in addi- tion to this, the methodology of mixing glycerol into
silicone
is quite simple and should be easy to upscale. ?is means that producing
wound
dressings in this way could be very cost-effective and therefore in high demand in a market where competition is intense.
silicone
and glycerol do not really mix; however, by spinning the ingredients at a certain rate and a certain temperature,
mazurek
found that he could suspend glycerol as tiny droplets inside the
silicone
: ??e more droplets i supplied, the more so? and stretchable the material got. in the end, the large number of droplets assembled like raindrops on a window creating a new structure in the material. ?is turned out to be very interesting indeed,? says piotr
mazurek
. ?e market already offers multiple types of chronic
wound
dressings and it is no news that
wound
dressings can release substances such as antibiotics or anaes- thesia. however,
mazurek
?s invention goes a bit further. extended treatment according to
mazurek
, the medicating dressings available in the market today, release most of the medicine rather rapidly and then the release slows down, which means a part of the medicine goes to waste and the dressing needs to be changed more o?en. ?e new material provides a longer period of medication, which could mean more time for other care assignments for nurses and that
wound
s are allowed a little more time to rest. ?e extended release of medicine is provided by taking advantage of glycer- ol?s ability to absorb. when the
wound
secretes fluids, the fluids are absorbed into the droplets of glycerol, which at the same time pushes out the medicine, creating this constant treatment effect. great potential according to
mazurek
, the combination with
silicone
adds some more important features from the ?wish list?.
silicone
has low adhesion which most people recog- nize from, for instance, baking moulds. it also insulates very well and protects the
wound
from temperature changes. furthermore,
silicone
allows for gaseous exchange so that the skin to breathe while keeping a moist environment around the
wound
which is key to the healing process. ?all of these properties combined in this new material gives it great potential. not only as a
wound
dressing, but also for other applications. it seems like the sky?s the limit and i?m excited to see what the future will bring? , says piotr
mazurek
. dpc ?
project-engineering-straw-18.html