• Evicel: This sealant is an elastic, insoluble protein derived from human plasma that forms an interlacing fibrous network when it comes in contact with blood.

It helps repair a hernia, which occurs when the muscles of the lower abdomen and groin have a hole that lets portions of the intestines bulge out. It helps doctors repair the hole from the inside, by laparoscopic surgery through the belly button.

Doctors go through the navel with an inflatable balloon device that creates a space inside the body behind the hole and install a thin polypropylene mesh over the hole.

They then spray the Evicel onto the back of the mesh, inside the body. It hardens -- clots, actually -- and fixes the mesh into place. This speeds the procedure by avoiding use of staples or stitches that would have to be removed later. ''It's like patching a tire from the inside,'' says Dr. Anthony Gonzalez, chief of laparoscopic surgery at Baptist.

Bone cement I: Chemically it's a polymethylmethacrylate, made by several manufacturers. In nonmedical use it's called Plexiglas or Lucite -- the strong, clear material used around hockey rinks to keep fans from being hit by flying pucks.

Mount Sinai Hospital orthopedic surgeon Dr. Marc Umlas uses it in total replacement of knees deteriorated by osteoarthritis. He removes the deteriorated bone and attaches the new prosthetic metal joint to the remaining bone with the bone cement.

The cement isn't sticky in itself, Umlas says. It attaches the new metal joint to the bone the way builder's grout holds bricks together, since both the bone and the new metal joint are somewhat porous.

''We owe this to dentists,'' Umlas says. ``You know the temporary crown you get while the permanent one is being made? That's the same stuff.''

Bone cement II: At Baptist Hospital, neurosurgeon Dr. Jack Klem uses the same type of bone cement in an operation called kyphoplasty, to repair spinal vertebrae that have deteriorated and collapsed from osteoporosis.

The surgeon inserts a pen-sized instrument through a tiny slit in the skin into the damaged vertebra in the lower back. He uses a surgical balloon inflated to 400 pounds per square inch to reopen the collapsed vertebra to its original height. Then he removes the balloon and injects the bone cement into the gap, making the restoration permanent.

When injected, the bone cement is the consistency of toothpaste; it hardens in the heat of the body.

''There's no healing,'' Klem says. ``When the cement hardens, the repair is complete. The patient can go home immediately.''

The operation has been done for about a decade, he says. Before, such deteriorated vertebrae were treated by wearing a back brace or having major surgery to fuse together the vertebrae above and below the damaged one.

''It relieves pain and corrects the deformity,'' Klem says. ``There's no general anesthesia and it obviates the need for a brace.''

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