Actively triggerable materials, which break down upon introduction of an exogenous stimulus, enable precise control over the lifetime of biomedical technologies, as well as adaptation to unforeseen circumstances, such as changes to an established treatment plan. Yet, most actively triggerable materials are low‐strength polymers and hydrogels with limited long‐term durability. By contrast, metals possess advantageous functional properties, including high mechanical strength and conductivity, that are desirable across several applications within biomedicine. To realize actively triggerable metals, a mechanism called liquid metal embrittlement is leveraged, in which certain liquid metals penetrate the grain boundaries of certain solid metals and cause them to dramatically weaken or disintegrate. In this work, it is demonstrated that eutectic gallium indium (EGaIn), a biocompatible alloy of gallium, can be formulated to reproducibly trigger the breakdown of aluminum within different physiologically relevant environments. The breakdown behavior of aluminum after triggering can further be readily controlled by manipulating its grain structure. Finally, three possible use cases of biomedical devices constructed from actively triggerable metals are demonstrated.
It was confirmed that PDL (595 nm, 1.5 ms, 7 mm, 9 - 11 J/cm(2)) had optimal effect without scars. Er:YAG or CO(2) laser radiation with specific characteristics was also useful for small superficial lesions.
The main goal of our study was to compare the quality of resulting facials scar 12 weeks after single and combined laser therapy. Forty-one children from age 1.5 to 5 years with facial scars after injury participated in the study. Thirty-one underwent laser therapy, 14 were treated using single low-level laser therapy (670 nm, fluence 3-5 J/cm(-2) ), and 17 underwent combined high-level laser therapy with non-ablative pulsed dye laser (PDL; 595 nm, spot size 7 mm, delay 0.45 ms or 1.5 ms, fluence 9-11 J/cm(-2) , cryogen spray/delay 20/30 ms) and low-level laser therapy. The control group consisted of 10 untreated children. Before treatment and at week 4, 8, and, 12 the scars were evaluated using the POSAS questionnaire. A statistically significant improvement in scars (between ratings before treatment and 4 weeks after therapy, before treatment and 8 weeks after therapy and before treatment and 12 weeks after therapy) was observed in all parameters in both treatment groups (p < 0.0001). For the HLLT+LLLT group the most significant enhancement in the quality of scars was found for all items and at all evaluations, except pigmentation and pliability. There was no improvement observed in quality of facial scars in the control group.
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