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Application of a sodium alginate hydrogel for clear preoperative endoscopic marking using India ink

Polymer Journal volume 52, pages 977–983 (2020)Cite this article

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Abstract

Preoperative marking or tattooing is a clinical procedure conducted during laparoscopic surgeries in which gastrointestinal lesions are identified by injecting India ink. However, diffusion of the carbon particles from the ink leads to its spreading in the surrounding tissues, resulting in unnecessarily extensive tissue resectioning. In this study, we determined whether this diffusion could be prevented using a sodium alginate (Alg-Na) hydrogel. We observed that the use of a 1.75% Alg-Na solution could significantly prevent the diffusion of carbon particles into the tissues of mice after subcutaneously injecting them with India ink. Similar results were observed in resected porcine large intestines. A good correlation between the concentration of Alg-Na and tattooed area was observed, in which an increase in its concentration led to an increase in its viscosity and injection pressure. To examine the effect of the molecular weight of Alg-Na on the tattooing area, a solution of 2% Alg-Na was irradiated with an electron beam at varying electron doses. Since irradiation could reduce the molecular weight, viscosity, and injection pressure of Alg-Na, a good correlation between these parameters and the tattooed area was observed. We concluded that an adequately viscous Alg-Na hydrogel could be used for clear preoperative marking.

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Acknowledgements

We express our sincere thanks to Prof. Hideki Sakai and Dr. Kenichi Sakai (Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry, Tokyo University of Science, Chiba, Japan) for their assistance in measuring the viscosity and viscoelasticity. This work was supported in part by a GAP FUND Project (4th period in 2018) from Kyoto University and a grant from Takeda Science Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Biopharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tokyo University of Science, 2641 Yamazaki, Noda, Chiba, 278-8510, Japan

    Naoya Seino, Emi Omori, Kosuke Kusamori & Makiya Nishikawa

  2. Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Graduate School of Medicine, Kyoto University, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, 606-8507, Japan

    Shin’ichi Miyamoto

  3. Laboratory of Clinical and Analytical Biochemistry, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tokyo University of Science, 2641 Yamazaki, Noda, Chiba, 278-8510, Japan

    Yuto Nagasaki & Kyohei Higashi

  4. SHI-ATEX, Co., Ltd, 2-2-1 Osaki, Shinagawa-ku, Tokyo, 141-6025, Japan

    Yutaka Yamase

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  1. Naoya Seino
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Correspondence to Makiya Nishikawa.

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Seino, N., Omori, E., Kusamori, K. et al. Application of a sodium alginate hydrogel for clear preoperative endoscopic marking using India ink. Polym J 52, 977–983 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41428-020-0342-9

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