Cyanoacrylate glue to the rescue

NEW ORLEANS—For a serious broken heart try Krazy Glue.
Surgeons at the Carolinas Heart Institute in Charlotte have done it seven times. They used household cyanoacrylate adhesive to apply sutureless pericardial patches that stopped the bleeding of critically injured patients with torn or ruptured myocardium.

During the procedures, patients' hearts were stopped electrically and a piece of autologous pericardium was placed over the wound, held there by an injection of the glue, says Dr. Dennis Eastman. The glue solidified in seconds.

Six patients were discharged with no long-term sequelae. The seventh died two weeks postop of infarction and arrhythmia unrelated to the patch, says Dr. Eastman. An autopsy found the patch adhered to the healed laceration, he told the American College of Chest Physicians meeting here.

—Elsie Rosner AUTHORS

AZ Laboratories, Inc., 404 Willow, P.O. Box 3012, Lenoir, NC 28645. Tel: 828-758-2865; Fax: 828-758-1326.