The average grown man has about 5 liters of blood – and you need most of it to survive. That’s why injured people fall victim not to the wound per se, but to the bleeding caused by it. If we could somehow find a way to stop the bleeding in a timely fashion, then many lives could be saved – and that’s exactly what this invention does.
Image via U.S. Army.
The product is called XStat, developed by a company called RevMedx. XStat is a clear syringe-like container that applies 12-millimeter-wide sponges directly into an open wound. The mechanic process is extremely simple: the sponges absorb blood, they swell up and cling to the wound, ensuring that they stay in place. Enough pressure is applied that the bleeding is temporarily stopped, giving enough time for the patient to reach a medical facility, where surgery can be safely conducted; the entire process takes about 20 seconds. XStat plugs gunshot and shrapnel wounds faster and more effectively than the standard battlefield first aid – let alone what paramedics use. It’ the kind of invention which makes you wonder why no one has thought about it before – it’s so simple yet so effective!
Usually, it takes a pretty long time before the FDA gives its approval for any new product, but thankfully, they moved pretty fast with this one – probably because it could be so useful in the military.
Up to 3 syringes may be applied to stabilize the bleeding, each containing 92 pill-shaped sponges which measure 9.8 millimeters in diameter and up to 5 millimeters in height and can absorb 3 milliliters of blood – in total, they can absorb almost 0.3 liters of blood. Furthermore, to ensure that no sponge is left behind after the surgery, they all have harmless X-ray markers, which means that a simple X-ray scan can easily detect them following the surgery.
“This will be an important new treatment option for our nation’s military to treat injured soldiers who may not be in close proximity to a medical facility,” FDA’s Christy Foreman says in a news release.
