A simple and inexpensive new tool could save the lives of soldiers and civilians suffering from serious wounds.
When a soldier, police officer or civilian is shot, one of the most dangerous aspects of their injury is the rapid loss of blood from damaged arteries and blood vessels. In fact, when it comes to combat wounds some 80% of soldiers die due to traumatic blood loss.
To bring these numbers down, Oregon-based RevMedX has developed a $100 sponge filled syringe that can staunch a hemorrhaging patient’s bleeding in as few as 15 seconds.
Designed by special ops medic John Steinbaugh, the XStat Dressing is meant to not only save lives but also fulfill the Hippocratic oaths charge to “do no harm”. In usual combat circumstances a medic often has to pack a patient’s wound with mounds of gauze. Unfortunately, that process is not only painful but sometimes ineffective, leading to multiple cycles of torturous packing and unpacking.
To minimize a patient’s pain and ensure that a wound is sealed, the XStat uses a 30mm diameter syringe filled with wood pulp based sponges that promote clotting through use of chitosan, an antimicrobial chemical derived from crustacean shells. Once injected into the patient’s wound the 1cm diameter sponges immediately begin to stop hemorrhaging, giving medical personnel the time needed to evacuate a patient to a more advanced medical facility where a surgeon can properly treat the wound.
Currently, the XStat is still winding its way through the FDA’s usually plodding vetting process, but since the Army has insisted that the technology be fast-tracked the dressing could make it into EMT and combat medic hands quickly. Given the XStat’s relatively small cost and its effectiveness in staunching the most destructive wound, it’s likely only a matter of time before the device makes it to production.
Images Courtesy of RevMedX