Self-Expanding Polymeric Foams for Point-of-Care Hemostatic Treatment of Acute Trauma and Injury

Hemorrhage remains the main cause of preventable death on the battlefield. Nearly 86% combat deaths have been found to occur within the first 30 minutes after wounding. In a study on combat casualties in 2012, it was found that non-compressible hemorrhage was responsible for most of the military deaths investigated. Further analysis of the data collected revealed that almost all fatalities from hemorrhage occurred before arriving at a medical facility. This underscores the need of developing appropriate FDA-approved hemostatic treatments that can effectively stanch blood loss while being easily applicable at the point-of-care, before professional medical care arrives. While external wound injury can be treated mostly by visual inspection, abdominal or internal haemorrhages are often much more intractable, causing regular hemostatic dressings to fall short because of deep wounds and obscure points of injury. The need to treat abdominal trauma wounds from liver, stomach, colon, spleen, arterial, venous and/ or parenchymal haemorrhage accompanied by severe bleeding requires an immediate solution that can be applied by individual soldiers in the field swiftly and efficiently amidst military operations. Traditional methods such as gauzes and tourniquets have gained inadequate success in terms of pressure and adhesion, and as such the fabrication of novel hemostatic materials has advanced tremendously in the last decade. However, advanced research comes at a steep cost that inflicts an economic burden of around $671 billion per year in medical care expenses, research cost, and lost productivity in the United States. Although there has been considerable research and claims in recent years in terms of engineering novel hemostats, developing an effective hemostatic material that is biocompatible, fast-acting, durable, with hassle-free application and removal, all while remaining an economically viable option remains a challenge. In our current study, we report a rapid action polymer-based hemostatic bandage system that is capable of withstanding uncompromising blood-loss. The two-component mixture of our hemostatic system chemically reacts to form a stiff, non-toxic foam that forms an artificial blockage creating an autogenous pressure on the wound to control and arrest profuse bleeding. The sponge-like polymer-based foam acts as a “tamponade” by expanding rapidly and arresting bleeding within a matter of minutes and can be removed without any signs of embolism, and any form of tissue, muscular or vascular damage. Support data include detailed characterization of the polymers and the hemostatic sponge formed upon reaction. To further examine the hemostatic effect of the foam, studies on mechanical durability, surface adhesion, hydrophobicity, and liquid flow rates through the porous matrix will also be presented. The objective of this novel hemostatic agent is to provide the injured party with a means to rapidly stagnate or arrest bleeding from external and internal wounds in a manner superior to those currently available, within minutes. This unique formulation presents an easy and economical approach to a biocompatible and hydrophobic hemostatic bandage system with spontaneous self-expanding properties that is also capable of remaining functional in inclement weather conditions, which is often the case in battlefields and fields of operation.