Sandwich-like scaffold for effective hemostasis and anti-adhesion in cardiac injury

Blood vessels are fully lined on the heart and sternum. Massive bleeding following heart surgery significantly reduces the effectiveness of anti-adhesion materials, resulting in severe tissue adhesion. Adverse outcomes in the follow-up surgery can also be brought on by post-operative adhesion. In this study, a sandwich-like scaffold was developed. Hemostatic sponges made of sodium carboxymethyl cellulose make up the top and bottom layers. An anti-adhesion fibrous membrane with poly-lactic -co-glycolic acid and polyethylene glycol-polylactic acid block copolymer made up the intermediate layer. As a physical barrier, the intermediate layer preserved the morphological integrity for more than a week. Following hemostasis, the layers of the sponges and the blood clot may degrade quickly, reducing the inflammation and fibrin deposition around the wound. This sandwich-like scaffold potentially has hemostasis and anti adhesion properties that lower the activation level of coagulation factors and lessen bleeding. (c) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Automated summary

A sandwich-like scaffold was developed in this study, consisting of hemostatic sponges made of sodium carboxymethyl cellulose as the top and bottom layers, and an anti-adhesion fibrous membrane with poly-lactic-co-glycolic acid and polyethylene glycol-polylactic acid block copolymer as the intermediate layer. This scaffold serves as a physical barrier, preserving morphological integrity and having hemostasis and anti-adhesion properties, potentially reducing the activation level of coagulation factors and bleeding.