First Aid Advance for Serious Trauma

Researchers are reporting a new sprayable foam that can stop major internal or external bleeding without needing to compress the wound, a first-aid advance desperately needed by first responders and trauma surgeons.

Whether a person suffers a major injury in an auto accident or on the battlefield, one of the leading causes of death is blood loss.

Bioengineers and scientists at the University of Maryland, College Park and Massachusetts General Hospital say they have created a polymer-based foam that causes blood cells to clump together.

The active ingredient in the foam is a biopolymer called hydrophobically modified chitosan, which is derived from the shells of shrimp and other crustaceans. It works by turning blood into a “self-supporting gel.” Its mode of action is different from the body’s natural clotting factors, so it can be used even on a patient who has received blood-thinning drugs.

Since it doesn’t require compression to work, it could potentially be used on major injuries to the trunk of the body–like a gunshot wound to the abdomen–which are difficult to stop from bleeding. It could also be used in emergency surgical situations where major internal bleeding is occurring. In tests on pigs, the foam reduced blood loss from a liver injury without compression by 90 percent compared to control animals. It continued to work for an hour.

Paper:http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acsbiomaterials.5b00067

Article:http://txchnologist.com/post/122443822705/first-aid-advance-for-serious-trauma-researchers

Corina Marinescu