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May 13th, 2008

Nanotech Wages War on Infections

Abstract:
What is the makeup of your infection-fighting nanomaterial, SilvaGard?

Made of pure silver, these particles measure about 10 nm in diameter. We manufacture them in a proprietary solution and then treat the devices we coat in the same solution. SilvaGard-treated surfaces can provide for a programmable duration of antimicrobial efficacy — lasting days, weeks or months. Our patent-pending process basically grows nanotech particles on the surface of medical devices. SilvaGard particles tightly adhere to these surfaces, requiring no intermediate binder layer. Nor do these particles change the mechanical or physical properties of the device to which they are applied.

Why was this new material developed?

We started our company about 15 years ago, developing wound-care products, such as gels and dressings that incorporate the antimicrobial properties of ionic silver to fight infections. Then we began to see the potential of these particles to treat medical devices that penetrate the skin, such as central venous catheters, urinary catheters and feeding tubes. In such applications, there's a natural exposure to pathogens outside the body that want to colonize those catheters. In addition, you have another category of devices, such as implanted pacemakers and orthopedic devices, whose surfaces are also susceptible to the formation of biofilms that can cause very serious systemic infections in patients. So you have an individual coming into the hospital for a knee implant and coming down with a hospital-acquired infection. That shouldn't happen. The hospitals ought to be able to prevent those infections. And what's happened recently is that Medicare and insurance companies are balking at reimbursing hospitals for such infections. The hospitals in turn are putting pressure on medical device manufacturers to do more to prevent this problem.

Source:
designnews.com

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