Department of Surgery

Types, Tools and Techniques of Surgery

Synthetic Surgical Sealant

Synthetic surgical sealant is designed to seal air leaks that commonly occur on the lungs following surgery. If air leaks from the lung, it accumulates in the lung cavity. Breathing becomes difficult because the lung cannot expand and contract normally.

As a result, patients require insertion of chest drainage tubes to vent accumulated air. These chest tubes stay in the patient until the air leaks stop, limiting patient mobility and adding to post-operative pain. Patients must remain hospitalized until the air leaks stop. Strong Health uses surgical sealant in a limited number of lung resections, such as when a section of the lung is removed to treat benign and malignant cancers.