Primary Sources (2)

Katzir, Abraham and Applied Physics Group at Tel Aviv University. (2010). “Lasers: The Future of Suture.” SPIE Professional, July. DOI:10.1117/2.4201007.08.

          Abraham Katzir, a reputable Physics professor at Tel Aviv University in Israel, received his PhD from the Hebrew University and became an expert in fields such as fiber optics and biomedical optics. Based on his many years and contributions in these fields, Dr. Katzir and his team of graduate students, technicians, researchers, and post PhD fellows, known as the Applied Physics Group at Tel Aviv University, hope to create a new type of laser that will suture wounds on a larger scale, as opposed to just in clinical settings where patient variability is prominent. They believe that controlling the laser temperature at a narrow range will result in stronger bonding and less damage in the tissues. The team created a laser system using IR fibers and tested it on different tissues of farm pigs, and now ten human patients who removed their gallbladders. After 30 days, they found that the scars from the new laser were much smaller. The one year results are still not available to the public. However, the experiment demonstrates how useful this innovation would be in developing an everyday laser that could quickly suture wounds to prevent infections. Dr. Katzir and his team allows us to deduce why regular lasers fail to work well, how the design should encapsulate portability, how changing the temperature of the laser will produce more adequate results, and how valid the actual original idea is since there is a widespread need for it, but no one has successfully created an effective and marketable wound healing, portable laser device.

Reid, A. Bruce, and Miroslaw F. Stranc. (1991). “Healing of Infected Wounds following Iodine Scrub or CO2 Laser Treatment.” Lasers in Surgery and Medicine 11, no. 5. 475-80. doi:10.1002/lsm.1900110514.

          Dr. Bruce Reid is an orthopedic surgeon who received his medical degree from Howard University College of Medicine and has been practicing for more than 20 years. His co-author, Dr. Miroslaw F. Stranc is a Professor of Plastic Surgery at the University of Manitoba with more than 20 years of experience as well. Both doctors sought to compare CO2 lasers with iodine surgical scrubs to evaluate which was more sterile in eliminating infections in wounds. After incising 33 adult male, New Zealand white rabbits and infecting them with a bacteria called pseudomonas aeruginosa, the scientists waited for a four day incubation period. Then, they randomly tried to heal the rabbits with either the CO2 laser or the iodine scrubs and observed its effects. Using statistical analysis of the breakdown of the wound, they found that CO2 lasers are more useful in healing wounds, as only three laser treated wounds led to sepsis as opposed to 12 iodine ones. This peer reviewed article would aid us in determining which type of laser is the most effective one to sterilize wounds, demonstrating why traditional antiseptics are not as safe as we think they are in treating wounds, establishing how a portable laser device like our innovation would decrease wound infection rates in the long run, and reducing the number of fatalities due to life-threatening wounds.

Secondary Source (1)

Richard Gray. (2016). “Is This the End of Stitches? Lasers Close Wounds and Cut Scarring.” Daily Mail Online. Associated Newspapers Ltd. February 08.

          Richard Gray, a Senior Science Journalist for BBC, received a degree in biochemistry at the University of Edinburgh and has been writing articles about science and technologic innovations for a variety of news sources, such as Business Insider, BBC, and The Guardian. His 15 years of experience validates him to report on a laser that uses a medical dye to bind the collagen fibers in tissues together to close up wounds. This form of nano suturing rids the patient’s need for staples and needles, which can prevent scarring. The scientists behind this study, whose results are published in the journal Nature Communications, tested it on pig’s skin for 15 minutes and found that the bonds were six times stronger than normal nano-suturing. The problem they face however, is that most laser light only penetrates the skin’s upper layers. Yet, with their biodegradable optical fiber, the team believes the laser light could extend further into the skin by an inch to heal various types of wounds. Using these findings to anticipate our portable laser’s ability to stabilize wounds would allow us to decide what type of laser the device should have, one with an optical fiber or one without, how deep are the suturing limitations within the wound, how fast the device would take to close a wound, and whether or not the laser will heal the wound completely or just enough for the patient to arrive at a hospital and seek further care.