Pharmacist Martina Keßler


historic



Main research


In response to injury, naturally separated tissues often get attached in the form of irreversible tissue adhesions. At first only a weak bridge of fibrin bands is built, before cell migration, vascularization and the deposition of more stable proteins (e.g. collagen) strengthen the new connection. Resulting severe consequences may include abdominal and pelvic pain, female infertility as well as small bowel obstructions. Thus, often a secondary surgical intervention is required to sever the adhesions (adhesiolysis), which is aggravating for the patient and also cost-intensive. As one of the primary causes of adhesion formation is an abnormal wound healing, following surgical procedures in pelvis, abdomen or thorax, the development of anti-adhesion products for the immediate application at the site of trauma is a field of great interest. Currently the main approaches towards adhesion prevention are pharmacotherapy and the application of physical barrier devices as well as the combination of both.

Biodegradable polymer films for adhesion prevention


An ideal barrier device should be applicable via both laparoscopic and open procedures and should remain effective throughout the complete wound healing process. Therefore, the affected peritoneum should be unrestrictedly covered by the device, which stays in place either by suturing or because of its own adhesiveness. Besides of being biocompatible, at best the barrier device is also biodegradable so that there is no need to remove it by an additional surgical procedure. Because of that, a controlled degradation, mechanical stability and selective cell adhesion are important factors for adhesion-prevention barriers and studies on this during their development inevitable. To investigate the combination of both abovementioned prevention approaches, polymer films are drug loaded and their release behavior determined in vitro.

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