DEVICE TO REPAIR OESOPHAGEAL ATRESIA

Pharma Pulse by Linu Mohan

DEVICE TO REPAIR OESOPHAGEAL ATRESIA

The oesophagus is the tube that normally carries food from the mouth to the stomach. Oesophageal atresia is a congenital defect of the digestive system in which the oesophagus does not develop properly. Almost entirely, the upper oesophagus ends and does not connect with the lower oesophagus and stomach.

The clinical management of the condition varies depends on the patient condition. If the gap between the two ends of the oesophagus is small, it will be sewn together whichcalled primary repair. If the gap is extensive, an alternative method of surgical repair is often preferred.

The US FDA recently approved a device which is used to non-surgically repair the oesophagus in infants who were born with oesophageal atresia. This device consists of two tubes each of which consists of a magnet at its edge. One tube is inserted through the mouth and the other through the stomach. Once in place, the magnetic ends of the catheters attract one another and pull the ends of the oesophagus together.

Within few days, the gap between the upper and lower oesophagus is closed and the surrounding tissue grows together. Within a couple of weeks, the tissue trapped between the magnets will die and a hole will open between the two portions of the oesophagus. This device is indicated for use in paediatric patients, up to one year of age, with oesophageal atresia.

COLOUR CHANGING DRESSING TO ALERT INFECTION

A wound can be defined as an injury to living tissue caused by a cut, blow, or other impact, typically one in which the skin is cut or broken. Dressing is one of the important step in wound care as it helps to minimize the risk of infection and protect the wound. There are different types of wound dressing which includes adhesive bandages, non-adhesive bandages etc.

Infection is one of the major complications in wound healing also removing the dressing to check for infection can be painful to the patient. Now researchers have developed a dressing and plaster that changes colour, if an infection arises, making it possible to check wounds without changing the dressing.

This type of dressing material consists of an indicator dye that reacts to different pH values. Healthy skin and healed wounds usually show a pH value of or below 5. If this value increases, shifting from the acid into the alkaline range, it indicates complications in the healing of the wound.

The indicator colour strip turns purple, when the pH value is between 6.5 and 8 which alerts infection is frequently present. In this way the intelligent dressing material makes it possible to regularly check wounds from the outside without disrupting the healing process.