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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