Super glues can fix more than just broken vases

GLUE is a stationery cupboard stalwart — but did you know it’s now a stock essential in the operating theatre, too?

Every day, special variations of glue — often a type of acrylic resin called cyanoacrylate — are used to stick and seal in a wide variety of surgeries and treatments, ranging from open heart surgery to infertility.

Here are a few examples of the modern medical advantages of adhesive.

HEART SURGERY: Kryptonite is a state-of-the-art glue used after open heart surgery.

The breastbone is intentionally broken to allow surgeons to get to the heart, and usually rejoined using metal wires.

However, although not used routinely in the UK, Kryptonite has natural properties which promote bone healing, and if administered it means patients can have fewer complications with bone stability and infections.

VARICOSE VEINS: The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence recommends endothermal ablation to treat problematic varicose veins, where heat’s used to seal them off.

But now VenaSeal, can also be used to stick together the veins that feed the blue, bulgy varicose veins, eventually making them disappear.

Others include: OPEN WOUNDS, where skin glue can heal minor cuts or wounds with a straight edge; BRAIN ANEURYSMS can be treated with a superglue-like fluid which, injected into the aneurysm, solidifies and cuts off the blood supply and FERTILITY TREATMENTS where an adhesive containing a substance called hyaluronan can help an embryo to implant itself in the womb.