BARC DEVELOPS
HYDROGEL FOR MIRACULOUS HEALING
The Bhabha Atomic
Research Centre (BARC), Mumbai, has developed a new wound dressing
technique called hydrogel. This is a spin off of basic research
being pursued in its Chemistry and Isotope Group in the
fields of radiation chemistry and radiation technology. It has
proved highly effective in healing almost all types of external
wounds. Hydrogel dressing is now available in the market under
the brand name 'HI-ZEL'. Extensive clinical studies have established
its safety and shown that it is not only an excellent first aid
for burns but also cures other wounds like diabetic foot ulcers,
leprosy ulcers and animal bites which are difficult to heal. Its
applications are expected to be useful in more and more diseases.
Hydrogel dressings
are gaining widespread acceptance abroad. But their local use
is restricted due to a very high cost of imported dressings. The
radiation processing technology developed at BARC produces high
quality hydrogel dressings at a fraction of the market cost of
imported material.
The use of hydrogel
dressings has several applications in the medical field. Drug
delivery devices, contact lenses, wound dressing, artificial cartilages
or membranes, vascular prosthesis and gel-coated catheters are
some of the examples. Generally, hydrogels contain more than 50
per cent of water entrapped in a three-dimensional network structure
of a polymer. The high water content makes them fully biocompatible.
(PIB Special Services).
