Doctors in Europe and Israel have started using a medical gun that flushes out a protective web to cover burns and wounds, hoping that the breathable “skin replacement” will help patients recover without the necessary changes.
Nanomedic, the Israeli company that designed the Spincare system, claims that the device gives patients increased mobility – which is often essential for fire rehabilitation – and the ability to shower, a process that can be difficult with traditional bandages. The translucent layer it produces allows medics to examine the wound without touching it, the firm says.
Rob Lyon, managing director of the UK distributor for Spincare, said it was very difficult to put on burns, which could make the application of bandages painful.
“Spincare is a contactless device,” says Lyon, whose company, Regen Medical, specializes in burns and wound healing products. The protective gauze, Lyon said, “mimics the skin,” enabling patients to move around more easily.
Electrospinning, the technique used by the device, involves the use of electricity to create nano-fibers from a solution, and has been used for years, also in the medical field. However, Nanomedic says its device is much smaller than the large electrospinning machines that were previously available, meaning it can be carried to a patient’s bed.
Gary J Sagiv, vice president of the marketing and sales company, said hospitals in Germany and Switzerland have used the product for facial wounds, where large bandages can be heavy. Others, he said, have applied it to wounds in people with diabetes, which can develop chronic foot ulcers that can lead to amputation.
Sagiv, which is unwilling to give a price, depends on the country in which it is sold, and claims Spincare is cost-effective for hospitals compared to other advanced wound care mortgages.
Baljit Dheansa, a UK doctor specializing in burns and scars, said he used Spincare on five patients at Queen Victoria Hospital in Sussex, with positive results on superficial burns. “You have this fine whitish thing on it that is quite robust and apparently can handle most things,” he said.
With deep burns, it was less effective, he said, but explained that Nanomedic did not claim that Spincare would be helpful for deep burns.
Dheansa said the product came at a time of debate within the medical community as to whether the traditional approach of regularly changing bandages to assess wounds was counterproductive. Various specialist dressings already used by doctors do not need to be changed regularly.
“Care is the same kind of concept – the idea of protecting a wound and letting nature do what it will do,” he said. ‘While it’s not absolutely new in the sense that it’s an adhesive bandage that sticks, it’s a new way of applying it. And in some ways, it’s probably a little easier. ‘
“You get your laser-guided weapon system … you just turn,” he joked, referring to the laser pointer on the tip of the medical rifle to help the user aim.
According to Dheansa, Queen Victoria Hospital has agreed to purchase more single-use capsules for the product, and he hopes to conduct research on its effectiveness.
‘What we are trying so hard to do is to look at these things fairly independently. Although a company would say he does it and does it and does it, we came pretty innocently and independently and said: you say it, but let’s actually see what it does. ‘
So far, Dheansa has said, Spincare is “doing what’s right there”.
‘With this kind of dressing, in the right circumstances, it just means that the patient does not have to learn how to make bandages, and that they are more flexible and do not have to worry so much. And relax a little more. ‘