http://english.ntdtv.com/?c=221&a=7593
STORY:
Israeli physicists have discovered that the heat from laser light can weld flesh back together. Now they’re experimenting with using it to heal wounds instead of using traditional stitching.
The bonding is also achieved using a blood protein called albumin. It works a bit like micro hooks on each side of the cut. They attach to each other and bond tightly after the skin has cooled down.
Professor Abraham Katzir demonstrates his laser technique on a piece of chicken breast.
[Abraham Katzir, Head of Applied Physics]:
“Both the edges of the cut and the albumin all stick together. And what the advantage is that you get, first of all, a strong bond, instead of sutures. Secondly it’s watertight, so that infection can not penetrate.”
But it has also proven successful on human flesh. Wounds from patients have healed faster and with less scarring.
The next step for Professor Katzir is to design a pen-like laser instrument. That way any doctor or medic could potentially use this technique.
[Abraham Katzir, Head of Applied Physics]:
“You will simply have an instrument that maybe will be in every hospital or in an emergency situation, or in an ambulance service, or in a battle field, that the less qualified surgeon or a medic, if there is a cut they can do it exactly like they do it in the Star Trek series…the television series. So it is science fiction made real.”
Professor Katzir is referring to the futuristic sci-fi TV series that used a so-called “Dermal Regenerator” to mend wounds.
According to Katzir, this new laser method could also be used in keyhole surgery to seal internal wounds. This would then avoid the need for making large invasive incisions on the body.
Katzir and his team hope to see their invention in operating rooms around the world in just a few years time.
