gms | German Medical Science

GMS Hygiene and Infection Control

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Krankenhaushygiene (DGKH)

ISSN 2196-5226

Declaration of the 1st International Workshop on Plasma Tissue Interactions

Declaration

  • plasmatis Initiative Group - Greifswald, Germany

GMS Krankenhaushyg Interdiszip 2008;3(1):Doc01

The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.egms.de/en/journals/dgkh/2008-3/dgkh000099.shtml

Published: March 11, 2008

© 2008 plasmatis Initiative Group.
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Outline

Declaration

Biological and medical plasma applications are an increasing field of research and development. Plasma surface modification is a state-of-the-art technique to optimize medical implants and biological diagnostic tools. Several efforts have been made for recent years to use plasma for antimicrobial treatment of heat as well as moisture sensitive medical products and devices as well as pharmaceutical packaging and drug preparations.

However, there is a huge potential of low temperature plasma application remaining. This is true not only for a fundamental new approach of combined microbiological decontamination/sterilisation of medical devices including inactivation of prions and endotoxins and remove of organic pollution and environmentally harmful by-products, but also for fields as bio-waste management, air purification, selective blood coagulation as alternative for electrosurgery, and tissue processing using atmospheric pressure plasmas

The main challenge to open up systematically new fields of plasma application in life science is to understand basically the mechanisms of plasma interaction with living cells and tissue.

A new and revolutionary application of plasmas seems to be the treatment of microbial contaminated, colonized or infected acute and chronic wounds. As long as a wound is infected, the healing process remains impeded. Up to now the treatment of acute and chronic wounds is mostly limited to antiseptic treatment using chemical or physical agents. Despite the fact that cytotoxic side effects of chemical antiseptics which may delay the wound healing process have to be accepted there is no broad fundamental working hypothesis for the effectiveness of wound healing agents.

Stating this lack of basic understanding both in the field of plasma cell interactions and in wound healing mechanisms, as a result of the “1st International Workshop on Plasma Tissue Interactions” the following statements are accepted:

1.
Wound healing as well as combat of infections are of great medical importance. Both are extremely energy-consuming processes.
2.
There would be an ideal constellation for wound treatment which could be combined in nearly ideal manner using atmospheric pressure plasmas:
- deletion of the microbial biofilm including endotoxins of the wound without damage of living wound tissue
- stimulation of cell proliferation in deeper layers of the wound.
3.
This work offers great challenges but has to take some risks due to its really new approach. Careful study of the processes and effects is necessary in a well defined environment with highly motivated staff. To open this new and highly innovative field of plasma application an extremely careful handling of the claims of potential application is needed to avoid an early overstraining of this new field.
4.
In close transdisciplinary collaboration with the international scientific community basic research in the field of plasma tissue interactions will lead to significant new insights in this special and important topic. The international scientific community should work together in this new field and support each other to faster the process of basic research in the field of plasma tissue interactions and to transfer into practice.
5.
Up to now there is no centre claiming this special topic in the world but some outstanding research centres and enterprises doing research well fitting to the proclaimed centre in Greifswald. The signatories of this declaration support highly the idea to establish the centre for basic research “plasmatis” in Greifswald to investigate the interaction of plasma with cells and tissue with a special focus on tissue regeneration and wound healing.Such a centre could be of mutual benefit for all participating institutions and the international scientific community.

Greifswald, October 2007