Dr Maria Pereira who may have solved one of the oldest problems attached to surgery.
Over the years there have been many breakthroughs in medicine thanks to dedicated and hardworking scientists.
Last week came news of a young Portuguese researcher who appears to have solved one of the oldest problems attached to surgery – how to seal wounds and holes in the body without damaging the body itself.
The ancient Egyptians and Greeks faced the same dilemma and coarse stitches from catgut and silk were their method of choice.
The modern physician relies on a more refined technique of suturing wounds yet it can still result in infection, irritation and scarring.
However, 30-year-old Dr Maria Pereira has invented a surgical glue that could completely revolutionise modern medicine.
She has developed a compound that can stick in the body’s harshest environment, the heart, which pumps what she describes as ‘a hurricane of blood’ 60 times a minute.
Her adhesive will attach under such wet and dynamic conditions and is elastic enough to expand and contract with each beat of the heart. It is hydrophobic (repels blood away from the surface), biodegradable and nontoxic.
Her glue adheres into place only when surgeons shine a light on it giving them control of the delivery process.
Maria Pereira’s surgical glue will be particularly useful for heart operations on babies and with clinical trials due to start at the end of this year, the material could reach operating theatres as early as next year.
Hopefully, if Maria’s invention turns out to be as effective as promised, she will be suitable honoured for her services to medicine.