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With whatever causes, some wounds leave a void where
the original tissue has been removed, making it difficult
to
close up the surrounding tissue to create a sterile
environment for re-growth and healing.
In some cases, wounds have to be packed with sterile
dressings, allowing progressive
healing as the
surrounding
tissue grows. This might be for deep muscle wounds, but
probably not vital organs. But dressings used like this,
and
the need to change them regularly, increase the risk of
infection and interfere with healing.
A sterile biocompatible organic material, with suitable
mechanical properties, could be used to fill the void and
provide a scaffolding for healing. Probably “glob-like”,
matching the mechanical properties of the surrounding
tissue, somewhat sticky, but can be assimilated, grown
around and through, and maybe includes chemicals to
stimulate/support healing and suppress infection.
[link]
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Sounds good but I'd be surprised if it doesn't exist. |
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My searches so far have turned up surface
dressings, collagen being the nearest. But I’m
thinking deep-wound packing. I was intrigued to
discover that superglue (cyanoacrylate) was
originally intended for gluing wounds closed in an
emergency. |
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I found things like alginate gels, but they seem to be
temporary - ie removed and changed after a while. |
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It may be that it's bad to close up a cavity wound with
permanent (or at least permanent-until-absorbed) packing -
you need to let various revolting things out of the cavity
from time to time. But then again, maybe not. |
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And cyanoacrylates were originally developed as an
alternative to Perspex. Only later was it discovered that
the uncured stuff was a great adhesive. And use for wound
closing came a lot later. |
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There should be a plotline somewhere in which two people
are glued together with cyanoacrylate, over such an
extensive (and/or sensitive) area of skin that they can't peel
themselves apart. They'd be able to separate only once the
outer layer of skin had grown enough to be shed. |
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If there's a post-surgery void in the body which needs to be filled, it seems a missed opportunity to fill it with something inert. Surely far better to fill it with a few TB of flash memory storage with a small NFC inductance loop to allow it to be powered up - all wrapped in bio-compatible silicone. Then, if you want to, for example, back up all the photos on your phone, all you'd have to do would be to hold the phone over your wound for a few seconds and everything would be backed up to (fairly) secure storage. |
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//(fairly) secure storage// I dunno. Seems to me that if
you're backing up to a part of your body that's already had a
hole blasted in it once, you're tempting fate. |
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I wonder if extracellular matrix could be used for this. I
seem to recall reading years ago that it was usable to effect
full regrowth of chopped-off bits like fingertips. |
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[Frankx] - the "blob" you're trying to re-invent was known as a "poultice".
Traditionally, for an open gaping wound, the go-to would have been
comfrey. |
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I have used comfrey poultices personally to good effect (on broken bones
& closed wounds; haven't [fate, be not tempted] had opportunity to try it on
any avulsion wounds). I wouldn't recommend that to anyone else; but if I
had such a misfortune, I'd probably give it a go. It would be quite
interesting to try it as an adjuct to something more assimilable than a
gauze pad. |
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As stomach turning as it sounds when it comes to extreme poultices... maggots only eat dead flesh, leeches can pull circulation back to a severed limb and also reduce an elderly male's or post menopausal women's risk of heart attack or stroke to that of a pre-meopausal woman, mouldy bread is where penicillin came from, and the placebo effect can trick the subconscious into healing things which could in no other way be healed. |
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// //(fairly) secure storage// I dunno. Seems to me that
if you're backing up to a part of your body that's already had
a hole blasted in it once, you're tempting fate.// |
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Well, if it it was lightning that made the hole... |
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