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Synthetic Gel to Repair Vocal Cords

by Kathy Jones on Jul 16 2011 7:33 PM

 Synthetic Gel to Repair Vocal Cords
In what could prove to be a major breakthrough in treating those with damaged vocal chords, researchers from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard Medical School have developed a new injectable gel that can mimic the function of vocal cord tissue.
The research team was led by Steven Zeitels and Robert Langer who developed a form of polyethylene glycol (PEG) gel which behaves very similar to vocal cord tissue when air is blown.

While most of the studies have tried to get rid of the scarred vocal cord tissue, the latest research has managed to restore vocal function in spite of the presence of the scarred tissue.

However the researchers add that the gel can only work for up to six months and the gel has to be re-injected once again into the patients’ vocal cords.



Source-Medindia


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