38 June 27 • 2019
jn
PAIN REDUCTION WITHOUT ADDICTIVE OPIOIDS
A promising trial at Israel’
s Sheba
Medical Center in Ramat Gan could
bring much-needed relief and less
reliance on addictive
opioids for patients
who suffer from upper
abdominal cancer.
The pilot phase of
this trial saw such
substantial results that
it is now expanding to
additional academic
medical centers across
North America, Europe and the
Middle East.
With an urgent need for new pain
management techniques outside the
dangerous realm of opiate medica-
tions and nerve blocks, Dr. Yaacov
Lawrence, Sheba’
s director of the
Center for Translational Radiation
Oncology, and Dr. Tikva Meron,
R.N., Ph.D., have entered into the
second phase of a groundbreaking
Celica Plexus Radiosurgery clinical
trial funded by Gateway for Cancer
Research.
Researchers are testing the efficacy
and safety of a single dose of radia-
tion directed toward the celiac plexus
— nerves located behind the pancre-
as at the 12th thoracic vertebrae.
The first phase had more than 80
percent of participants reporting
significant improvement in pain.
One-third claimed to have all pain
resolved.
The clinical trial is gaining
traction. Sheba had more than 23
patients enrolled within one year.
Dr. Lawrence and his Tel Aviv
team, along with investigators from
London, Philadelphia, Ohio and
Toronto, are beginning the next
phase with 100 patients. ■
Illustration of a medical glue gun
COURTESY TECHNION
Hot glue guns can be used for more
than crafts and toys. Now, research-
ers from the Haifa-based Technion-
Israel Institute of
Technology’
s Faculty
of Biotechnology and
Food Engineering have
developed a glue applied
with a hot glue gun to
adhere seriously injured
human tissue.
Most serious injuries
now are treated with pins and stitches
that have drawbacks, including pain,
scars and sometimes removal. Medical
glue can produce improved medical
and cosmetic results, but is limited by
mechanical properties, which leave the
organ less flexible, and toxicity, which
limits its use to the surface of the skin.
Researchers have long been trying
to develop a glue that is suitable for
different tissues, nontoxic and flexible
after hardening. Such a glue would also
need to decompose in the body after
the tissue is fused together.
In an article published recently
in Advanced Functional Materials,
Biomaterials Laboratory head
Professor Boaz Mizrahi and doctoral
student Alona Shagan introduce a very
strong, nontoxic tissue adhesive that
remains flexible even after solidifica-
tion.
Melting the glue and smearing it on
the damaged tissue is performed with
a hot glue gun. Unlike the glue guns
with which we are familiar, this gun
warms the glue to a moderate tem-
perature — just above that of the body
— so as not to cause a burn.
After the glue is applied, it quickly
hardens and decomposes within a few
weeks. The adhesive is also suitable for
the adhesion of tissue inside the body,
and it is four times as strong as existing
adhesives used for this purpose. Tested
on cells and laboratory animals, it was
effective and nontoxic.
The researchers believe the new
concept will lead to the development
of devices that will reduce the use of
stitches, staples and pins, speed up the
healing process and reduce scarring. ■
Hot Glue Gun Fuses
Biocompatible Tissue
health | Israel’
s role
Professor Boaz
Mizrahi
Dr. Yaakov
Lawrence
COURTESY TECHNION
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