Nanoparticle Infused Gauze Quickly Stanches Wounds

jackieduvall writes "Medical gauze has received its first upgrade since World War I. Chemists have infused it with nanoparticles derived from kaolin clay, which somehow give it an amazing ability to stop severe bleeding. It was developed when the Navy approached a team of inorganic chemists at the University of California Santa Barbara to solve a problem with QuikClot, a zeolite-based hemostatic agent that became way too hot and caused burns when it came in contact with water or blood. While performing blood clotting tests, they realized that kaolin clay, which has been used as a control for clotting experiments since the 1950s, could also be used as a first aid product." There is a video demonstration alongside the article. It shows the gauze halting the bleeding from a pig's aorta. The blood isn't excessive, but if you're bothered by that sort of thing, you may want to skip the video.

Comments

Humph... This happens a lot

[Anonymous Coward]

http://science.slashdot.org/science/06/10/10/2024228.shtml

Re:Humph... This happens a lot

[bargainsale]

I am an eye surgeon [IAAES?], and I find it hard follow why Dmitri Azar in the linked article thinks it would be so useful in our field.

Bleeding isn't normally a big feature of eye surgery such as cataract surgery.

Maybe he has applications in retinal surgery in mind. Blood in the vitreous humour inside the eye clears away very slowly, and sometimes needs to be removed surgically, which is a very major eye operation. It would be good to have some substance you could inject into the eye which would clear the blood faster: in fact various things of this kind have been tried.

It doesn't seem that this stuff would be particularly useful in that way, as it arrests bleeding rather than clears blood.

Neurosurgery I can see, though.
It reminds me of when I did neurosurgery as a trainee, years ago; brain bleeds easily, and the more you touch it, the more it tends to bleed. We used to splosh peroxide on the bleeding spots to arrest bleeding (I don't know if this still goes on).
I remember a cynical anaesthesiologist saying he was convinced that peroxide had no actual effect in itself to stop the bleeding - what happens is that the peroxide fizzes for several minutes and during that time the surgeon has to keep his fingers away from the brain, and it's THAT that arrests the bleeding.

Also works for the runs...

[neapolitan]

Medical factoid - kaolin and pectin are the substances that constitute the anti-diarrheal substance "Kaopectate" (hence the name.) Note that it doesn't really do anything but bind with water -- kind of a clay-like substance that will then give one more firm stools.

I think the modern kaopectate has modified its ingredients, but kaolin clay like substances are still available for medical use. Nice to see a new implementation of this technology, with the "nano" prefix thrown in for sexiness.

Re:This is a US website

[solafide]

Actually, I'm fairly sure that it is correctly 'stanch' for 'cause to cease bleeding' and 'staunch' for 'very fervid, committed to a cause'. You stanch blood, you are a staunch supporter. They can be interchanged, but those are the original meanings, and it is correct as used.

Re:I have a better idea to stop the bleeding!

[rossz]

The U.S. gives more money to countries in need than anyone other country in the world -- by a huge margin, especially if you combine government and private aid. When a disaster hits, the U.S. is often the first there with actual relief supplies. When that tsunami hit, the UN spent the first few months bitching about the quality of the hotel buffet and didn't do a damn thing about the people who needed help. The U.S. immediately sent a naval carrier task force (I think it took about a week to get there) -- which was criticized by idiots. A carrier task force gives you:

Multiple hospitals, fully stocked with everything you need.
Tons of food.
Enough electrical power to supply a city.
The most modern communication equipment in the world.
The ability to create something like 100,000 gallons of pure drinking water a day.
Helicopters for transporting supplies, personal, and the injured.
Construction equipment, bulldozers are handy things when buildings have collapsed.
Security. Natural disasters tend to attract roving bands of thugs who take advantage of the chaos to prey upon the helpless.
etc, etc, etc.

A carrier task force is about the best damn thing to have around when dealing with a disaster of that magnitude. I don't even need to list the huge sums of money and supplies donated by the American people and American businesses. I know of a lot of companies that sponsored donation matching.

Re:I have a better idea to stop the bleeding!

[Buelldozer]

These are such well known statistics that I'm surprised you're questioning them. The United States Government is, and has been for some time, the largest giver in absolute dollars of any nation in the world. There are tons of references to this online but here is one: http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Debt/USAid.asp#ForeignAidNumbersinChartsandGraphs Buried in that article is the knowledge that U.S. Citizens, outside the government, donate almost double what the Government does. No matter how you slice the numbers the United States through it's government and private citizens are the most generous givers in absolute terms of any nation and her citizens. Period.

Re:This is a US website

[Mesa MIke]

"Stanches", yay; "Staunches", nay.
See http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stanches

Re:I have a better idea to stop the bleeding!

[Anonymous Coward]

Is that a fact? Would this go under "Foreign aid"? Because last I heard, U.S. ranks almost last in terms of foreign aid in terms of GDP, with most of it going to Israel.
Here is a somewhat old, but relevant study. (Not relevant to TFA, mind, but to this rather OT thread.)

Re:I have a better idea to stop the bleeding!

[Threni]

> These are such well known statistics that I'm surprised you're questioning them. The United States Government is, and has been for some
> time, the largest giver in absolute dollars of any nation in the world.

Yeah, but most of that `giving` is to Israel. I'm talking about charity, to countries which need it. And by the Government, not the people. Finally, the US gives far less than the suggested minimum of its GDP. You're living the dream, arncha!

I use Celox already

[greyhueofdoubt]

The last time I was deployed in Iraq, we were all issued Quikclot packs in our trauma bags; I'm sure that if I needed to use it, it would have worked fine. However, Quikclot causes pretty severe burns and pain when it's used; in addition, the hard 'clot' that is formed is a PITA for surgeons to remove.

In my personal trauma kit here at home, I use Celox:

http://www.celoxmedical.com/

It is chitosan-based but claims to not affect people with seafood-based allergies. It produces no heat and is removed easily by water irrigation. I am curious why the DoD has not moved towards this product; you can get the celox-infused gauze that works much the same as this kaolin-based product already. If any of you are EMTs or just interested in having a good hemostatic agent in your kit, you should look into Celox. When everything else is equal, the disadvantages of Quikclot make Celox the clear winner.

-b

Re:nano technology?

[budgenator]

Calcium ions trigger thrombosis, blood clotting and calcium chloride is an excellent source of calcium ions, probably the best; burns like hell in a cut too. They use a product called "quickstop" in pet grooming shops to stop toenails from bleeding when the quick is cut; a toenail will bleed for what seems like forever without it. Quickstop is a styptic made from ferric and calcium chlorides.