Application of a viscous liquid as an aerosol for post-operative adhesion prevention: First engineering steps towards nozzle design

Postoperative adhesions are scar tissue that form between internal organs after surgery, leading to devastating life-long complications. Current adhesion barriers used clinically are solid sheets which can only be applied in open surgeries through large incisions. We have developed a material which can be applied as a liquid in minimally invasive surgeries which transitions into a solid thin film barrier upon contact with warm tissue. However, to be effective, it must be sprayed, and spraying a viscous liquid consistently is challenging. We proposed using a gas dispersant to facilitate aerosolization. In this study, we compared a commercially available nozzle without gas dispersant to a custom 3D printed nozzle with gas dispersant. For comparison, we measured both spray pattern and stiffness of the resulting gel. We found that when sprayed with gas dispersant, the spray pattern covered a larger area, and the resulting gel was stiffer than when sprayed without gas dispersant.