A team of engineers at EPFL(Lausanne,Swizerland;www.epfl.ch), in collaboration with pediatric airway surgeons at CHUV(Lausanne,Switzerland;www.chuv.ch),has developed an innovative adhesive hydrogel patch that promises to revolutionize the treatment of tracheomalacia.

In a novel approach,the non-invasive adhesive hydrogel patch can be used to wrap around and support the damaged trachea,thereby opening the airway.

Their successful demonstration of the adhesive hydrogel patch proves its ability to adhere strongly to moist tracheal surfaces,providing structural support to a fully collapsed trachea even under negative pressure,increasing the volume by up to 50%.

The positive results have denonstrated the potential for the use of adhesive hydrogels as a new approach in the clinical treatment of tracheomalacia.