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Catheters, intravenous lines and other types of surgical tubing are a medical necessity for managing a wide range of diseases. But a patient’s experience with such devices is rarely a comfortable one. Now, engineers have designed a gel-like material that can be coated onto standard plastic or rubber devices, providing a softer, more slippery exterior that can significantly ease a patient’s discomfort.
The coating can even be tailored to monitor and treat signs of infection.Image credit: Felice Frankel
