Canadian researchers have pioneered a new way to mend a patient's breastbone after open-heart surgery, using a Superman-strength glue that cuts healing time and reduces pain.

The technique uses a state-of-the-art adhesive called Kryptonite that rapidly bonds to bone and accelerates the recovery process, says Dr. Paul Fedak, a cardiac surgeon and scientist at the University of Calgary.

"We can now heal the breastbone in hours instead of weeks after open-heart surgery," he said Thursday. "Patients can make a full recovery after surgery and get back to full physical activities in days instead of months."

Fedak said he came up with the idea of using Kryptonite, a biologically compatible adhesive made by a U.S. company, after watching many patients struggle with the aftermath of the surgery, which requires the breastbone to be split vertically to allow access to the heart.

"So I fix their heart and they're usually fine from a heart point of view, but a lot of them have prolonged pain after the surgery in the region of their breastbone," he said from Calgary.

"We haven't really innovated anything since cardiac surgery became routine 50 years ago, in terms of the chest closure. We're still closing the chest the same way we always did with stainless steel wires and waiting for the bone to heal over six to eight weeks and hoping that it fuses."

Augmenting the wires with the adhesive produces a solid bond within 24 hours, reducing time in hospital and allowing patients to resume physical activity sooner – an important component of surgical recovery in general and for heart rehabilitation in particular.

Fedak has used Kryptonite to mend the breastbones of more than 20 patients who had open-heart surgery as part of a pilot study. He is set to head an international trial using the technique, which will involve 500 patients over the next year or two.

One patient in the initial trial has had both methods of knitting his breastbone back together – and he said the glue takes the prize without question.

After Richard Cuming, 62, had cardiac bypass surgery two years ago, the wires holding his sternum together pulled out of the bone, leaving the two halves to rub together whenever he moved. The condition, called sternal disruption, is one of the potential complications arising from open-heart surgery.

"I couldn't accomplish simple tasks like squeezing toothpaste, turning the steering wheel in my car or pulling open a heavy door without discomfort and pain," he said.

Coughing or sneezing was "brutal," Cuming said from his Calgary home, describing his pain level as up to eight on a scale of 10.

But when he had another open-chest operation in July to re-mend his breastbone using Kryptonite, there was a huge difference in his recovery.

"First of all, my chest was solid. I mean it was rock-hard, no movement. I could tell immediately that there was a significant improvement," Cuming said. "The pain never did get much above a three on a scale of one to 10, and I managed it for the first couple of days in hospital with ibuprofen instead of any narcotic."

"In three weeks I felt I could do pretty much anything I wanted to do. I'm sure I could have done it sooner."

Fedak has begun teaching the technique to other cardiac surgeons, both within and outside Canada. Among them is Dr. George Christakis of Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto, who calls the use of the adhesive "a terrific idea."

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"I think it will be very good for patients who are at high risk of sternal disruption," he said. "Presumably, if you use this material Kryptonite, this will happen infrequently or not at all."

"It will be good for patients and also great for hospitals, too, because keeping a patient in hospital for a long period of time takes up an enormous amount of money and resources. This would be very, very cost-effective."