US approves internal tissue glue

A tissue glue for internal use in surgery has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration. TissuGlu from Cohera Medical is already approved in Europe, but is the first internal adhesive to be approved in the US.

TissuGlu has been approved for sticking together tissue layers after abdominal surgery, either cosmetic procedures to remove excess fat and skin, or to restore weakened or separated abdominal muscles. Closing the space between layers speeds healing and prevents fluid from building up between tissue layers, which then requires further surgical interventions to drain.

The adhesive polymer is highly branched with isocyanate end-groups on the chains. When the product comes into contact with water on tissue surfaces, some of the isocyanate groups are transformed to amines, which can then react with other isocyanates to form urethane cross-links between chains as the adhesive cures. The lysine-derived polymer backbone is broken down by protease enzymes into absorbable components.