Cited research: Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA doi:10.1073/pnas.0811529107 (2010)

Researchers have designed an injectable polymer that can fill 'dead space' left inside the body after surgical tissue removal. Left empty, such spaces can fill with fluid and form internal blisters called seromas, which can lead to infections and other complications.

David Putnam at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, and his colleagues combined polyethylene glycol with a dihydroxyacetone polycarbonate to produce their MPEG-pDHA hydrogel.

Used in a rat model of breast mastectomy, a specific amount of the material seemed to reduce the volume of postoperative seromas. It also degraded into inert products and was well tolerated by the body. D.P.C.