“…2,18 Because of its flexibility and swelling capability in an aqueous medium, PVA has been much studied as a wound dressing; 2 however, its poor stability in water has limited its use in aqueous systems, particularly for drug-delivery applications. 18,22 To overcome this problem, PVA has been made insoluble by grafting, 18 copolymerizing, 22 and cross-linking, 23 which require some additional and sometimes complicated and time-consuming processes. In wound dressing applications, PVA has been crosslinked with polyvinyl pyrrolidone, 2 sodium alginate, 24 and sterculia 25 to provide better characteristics, although a vey quick release burst was reported and a sustained release continued up to 90 hours, 5 hours, and 24 hours, respectively.…”