An Injury-Conforming Dual-Layer Lung Sealant

Abstract

Persistent pulmonary air leaks contribute to prolonged hospitalization. While existing hydrogel-based sealants can be used to stop air leaks, they may lack the high elasticity needed to accommodate lung deformation and mechanical cohesion. We developed an injury-conforming sealant with an adhesion layer underneath a customized bioprinted reinforcement layer. The leak- and rupture-pressure tests demonstrated substantial improvement in adhesive and cohesive strengths of the dual-layer sealant compared to single-layer control. We also developed a computer vision-guided tracking method to quantitatively assess sealant–tissue compliance during ventilation in ex vivo swine lungs. When used to repair air leaks on ventilated swine lungs, the sealant maintained structural integrity during cyclic ventilation, exhibiting a dynamic strain of 13.4% ± 0.8% relative to 19.7% ± 0.3% in the underlying tissue. The sealant repaired the leak and restored peak-inspiratory pressure (PIP) to baseline levels (PIPNative: 30.0 ± 0.8 cmH2O; PIPInjured: 25.3 ± 0.6 cmH2O; PIPSealed: 29.5 ± 1.3 cmH2O). Collectively, our findings demonstrate that the injury-conforming dual-layer sealant effectively seals pulmonary air leak while accommodating cyclic tissue deformation during ventilation.