Texas A&M prof part of team developing potentially life-saving coagualant, 'hydrogel'

[TexasTowelie]

A team of researchers that includes Texas A&M, MIT and Harvard professors has developed a new injectable substance with soldiers in mind that could prevent bleeding deaths and revolutionize the way emergency responders save lives away from the battlefield.

Akhilesh Gaharwar, assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Texas A&M along with professors from Cambridge created a biodegradable gelatin, "hydrogel," a substance bolstered by microscopic silicate discs that speed up the coagulation of a bleeding wound and drastically decreases the amount of time it takes for blood to clot, which improves the odds for a patient's survival in the critical hour of treatment after an injury.

The team published its findings in the ACS Nano scientific journal and has been supported by the U.S. Army Research Office.

Although the product is still in its early testing stages, Gaharwar said in a press release that he envisions the material being pre-loaded into syringes that soldiers carry with them into combat situations in order to be prepared should they experience an injury where it would be difficult to apply pressure and a tourniquet would fail to stop the bleeding.

Read more: http://www.theeagle.com/news/local/texas-a-m-prof-part-of-team-developing-potentially-life/article_47d7fed3-7f64-51e3-980f-a619e015d4b4.html

[catnhatnh]

1. Just bleeding can kill...

As an EMT (past tense) I was fortunate to have 3 hospitals in a 10-20 minute radius and in most cases minor mitigation like direct pressure was perfectly sufficient. Some cases however would present both massive bleeding and large blood loss prior to our arrival. Internal bleeding could not be controlled well within the torso in either blunt force or penetrating injuries.

Because we had the hospital advantage a bunch of saves were easy, but just a very limited few losses could have been saves too. For a rural service this stuff could be past precious...

[Ilsa]

2. I hope they've also developed the

Antidote to reverse this process, if necessary. I'm not certain if and when it would be necessary, but I wonder if an option should be available.