Smart stitches are a promising advancement in healthcare and surgery. They use modern materials and technology to improve wound healing, reduce infection risk, and simplify post-operative monitoring. A new antimicrobial suture material that glows in medical imaging could be a viable replacement for mesh implants and internal stitches.
Surgical site infections are among the most prevalent medical infections, affecting 2 to 4% of individuals following surgery. Infection rates can be higher for particular treatments, such as vaginal mesh implants used to cure prolapse. Dr Shadi Houshyar, study’s main author and Vice Chancellor’s Senior Research Fellow, stated that their suture was designed in collaboration with physicians precisely for this type of operation.
“Our smart surgical sutures can play an important role in preventing infection and monitoring patient recovery, and the proof-of-concept material we’ve developed has several important properties that make it an exciting candidate for this,” said Houshyar, of RMIT University in Australia’s School of Engineering.
The surgical filament was plainly apparent in CT scans when threaded through samples of chicken meat, according to lab studies published in OpenNano. It also demonstrated potent antibacterial capabilities, killing 99% of drug-resistant bacteria after six hours at body temperature. According to Houshyar, the team is unaware of any commercially available suture solutions that combine these qualities.
Our smart surgical sutures can play an important role in preventing infection and monitoring patient recovery, and the proof-of-concept material we’ve developed has several important properties that make it an exciting candidate for this.
Dr. Shadi Houshyar
How they did it
The multidisciplinary team lead by RMIT used the university’s cutting-edge textile manufacturing facilities to manufacture its proof-of-concept material, which includes nano-engineering, biomedical, and textile experts working in collaboration with a practicing surgeon. The suture’s characteristics are derived from the presence of iodine and microscopic nanoparticles known as carbon dots throughout the material.
Carbon dots are fluorescent by nature due to their specific wavelength, but they may also be tweaked to various levels of luminosity that easily distinguish themselves from surrounding tissue in medical imaging. Meanwhile, adding iodine to these carbon dots gives them significant antibacterial characteristics as well as increased X-ray visibility.
Houshyar said carbon nano dots were safe, cheap and easy to produce in the lab from natural ingredients. “They can be tailored to create biodegradable stitches or a permanent suture, or even to be adhesive on one side only, where required,” she said. “This project opens up a lot of practical solutions for surgeons, which has been our aim from the start and the reason we have involved clinicians in the study.”
Clinical possibilities
Justin Yeung, a consultant colorectal surgeon and Professor of Surgery at the University of Melbourne, was engaged in the research. He described it as addressing a major difficulty for surgeons in determining the precise anatomical position of internal meshes on CT imaging.
“This mesh will enable us to help with improved identification of the causes of symptoms, reduce the incidence of mesh infections, and aid in precise preoperative planning, if there is a need to surgically remove this mesh,” he said.
“It has the potential to improve surgery outcomes and improve quality of life for a huge proportion of women, if used as vaginal mesh for example, by reducing the need for infected mesh removal. It may also significantly reduce surgery duration and increase surgical accuracy in general through the ability to visualise mesh location accurately on preoperative imaging.”
Next steps
Study co-author from RMIT’s School of Health and Biomedical Sciences, Professor Elisa Hill-Yardin, said the next steps were pre-clinical trials.
“While this research is in its early stages, we believe we are on to something very promising that could help a lot of people and are very eager to speak with industry partners who are interested in working with us to take it further,” she explained. “We see a lot of potential, especially in vaginal mesh implants and similar procedures.”
The proof-of-concept material was created at RMIT’s Centre for Materials Innovation and Future Fashion, one of Australia’s leading university-based textile manufacturing facilities. They will soon be creating larger suture samples for use in pre-clinical testing, for which RMIT has provided seed funding.
