FDA Approves Nation’s First Commercial Surgical Glue

The Food and Drug Administration approved the nation’s first commercial surgical glue Friday, used to help control bleeding during certain surgeries or trauma.

Baxter Healthcare Corp.’s Tisseel is made from the two blood proteins, fibrinogen and thrombin, that naturally cause blood to clot when they latch together at the site of an injury.

The FDA approved this so-called fibrin sealant to be used in heart bypass surgery, colon surgery and in cases of traumatic spleen injury, all situations that can involve uncontrolled bleeding from small, hard-to-seal blood vessels.

Tisseel forms a flexible mesh over an oozing blood vessel to help control bleeding within five minutes, the FDA said.

Although Tisseel is the first surgical glue to hit the U.S. market, it’s not the type of glue most U.S. doctors and patients are anticipating. Other products, including a “Super Glue” derivative still awaiting FDA approval, promise to be heavier-duty alternatives to scar-prone stitches or staples in everything from emergency-room wound treatment to cosmetic surgery.