Methods for Treating Body Tissue

Abstract

Methods of treating body tissue including repairing defects in body tissue as well as augmenting body tissue. Body tissue defects are repaired by injecting a polymeric adhesive composition through an injector into the region of the defect and allowing the adhesive composition to cure to repair the defect or to form an implant that adheres to at least one surface tissue in the region of the defect. Body tissue is augmented by filling a defect void with a polymeric adhesive composition and allowing it to cure.

1 . A method of repairing a defect in a body tissue, the method comprising:
 positioning an injector proximate to a defect in a body tissue;   injecting a curable polymeric adhesive composition through the injector into a region of the defect; and   allowing the adhesive composition to cure at the site of the defect, thereby repairing at least a portion of the defect.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the curable polymeric adhesive composition repairs at least a portion of the defect by adhering to tissue during curing. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the curable polymeric adhesive composition comprises a curable polymer and a chemical crosslinker. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the chemical crosslinker is pre-mixed with the curable polymer before the injecting step. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising injecting a chemical crosslinker into a region of the defect. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the chemical crosslinker is selected from the group consisting of dialdehydes, diisocyanates, acid anhydrides, diamines and combinations thereof. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the chemical crosslinker is hexamethylene diisocyanate (HMDI). 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the curable polymeric adhesive composition comprises a curable protein copolymer solution. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the curable polymeric adhesive composition comprises repeating blocks of amino acid sequence. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the curable polymeric adhesive composition comprises a network of polymer chains including repeating elastin-like and fibroin-like sequences. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the repeating fibroin-like sequences of the polymer chains of the curable polymeric adhesive composition comprise the sequence: GAGAGS (SEQ ID NO:1). 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the repeating elastin-like sequences of the polymer chains of the curable polymeric adhesive composition comprise the sequence: GVGVP (SEQ ID NO:2). 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the repeating elastin-like sequences of the polymer chains of the curable polymeric adhesive composition comprise the sequence: GKGVP (SEQ ID NO:3), wherein the K serves as a crosslinking site. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the curable polymeric adhesive composition is cured by chemically crosslinking the elastin-like sequences. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the polymeric adhesive composition has a lap shear tensile strength of at least about 250 g/cm 2  when cured. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the polymeric adhesive composition has said lap shear tensile strength of at least about 300 g/cm 2  within a cure time of about 5 to about 30 minutes. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the polymeric adhesive composition has a lap shear tensile strength of about 100 g/cm 2  to about 4000 g/cm 2  when cured. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the defect is a hole or void in the body tissue. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the curable polymeric adhesive composition further comprises a drug. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the adhesive composition is bioresorbable. 
     
     
         21 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the injector is selected from the group consisting of syringe, catheter and cannula. 
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein said injection is done to augment tissue mass.