Scientists of Lviv Polytechnic National University, together with students successfully manufacture innovative hydrogel dressings that help our soldiers at the front.
The advantage of dressings is that today they are almost the only medical hydrogel products made on the basis of bioactive polymers of natural origin. They combine the wound-healing and regenerative properties of sodium alginate.
Products based on natural polymers do not cause allergic reactions and skin rashes, and disposal of these products after use does not cause environmental problems. It is also important that their cost is low, which makes the modern method of moist wound healing accessible to a wide range of people.
They help with bedsores and their treatment, as well as are good at their prevention. Hydrogel dressings also proved themselves well for the treatment of wounds that are difficult to heal – trophic wounds and diabetic foot ulcers.
It is a completely comfortable bandage that does not need to be torn from the wound. The dressing time is generally reduced. One of its purposes is to accelerate the healing of clean postoperative wounds.
Most companies produce similar dressings based on synthetic materials. Scientists of Lviv Polytechnic have developed bandages based on natural polymers, in particular sodium alginate from brown algae and pectin. Sodium alginate is used by some housewives to thicken dishes. This bioactive polymer has, among other things, wound-healing, regenerative properties that are characteristic of bioactive natural polysaccharides, with a significant ability to drain wound secretions, which products based on synthetic polymers do not possess.
Every month, the Institute of Chemistry, Lviv Polytechnic, sends, through almost a dozen volunteer organizations, up to 12,000 square decimeters of hydrogel dressings to active units, front-line hospitals, and burn centers. In connection with the war, the demand for bandages is great. We give everything we produce here. After the last reconstruction, we started to use new equipment, which has been improved for two years. Most likely, this is the limit of this line in the conditions of Lviv Polytechnic», says Professor Samaryk. According to him, 35 thousand square decimeters per month is the maximum capacity. And this is if you work in two shifts six days a week. Due to the lack of funds for raw materials and the payment of workers, they are unable to ensure the maximum capacity of the equipment on their own – scientists and students.
«We need someone to believe in the prospects of moist wound healing in the medical practice of Ukraine, invest money in it and build a real, not a pilot equipment, – explains Volodymyr Samaryk. – Now we are finishing the certification process. We will have state certification for the product and state certification for production».
The full text of the article is on the website of the Vysoky Zamok newspaper.
