Scientists at the Chinese Academy of Sciences have developed non-blood-absorbing hemostatic gauze after repeated experiments. Compared with traditional medical gauze, this new achievement can diminish blood loss by about 60 percent.
They built a micro-nano structured layer in a surface of traditional gauze fiber with medical long-chain paraffin using nanotechnology, turning the conventional gauze blood-phobic from blood-philic. The gauze is thus freed from blood infiltration after processing with this technology.
They further superimposed the gauze over conventional gauze, using the lower gauze to promote blood coagulation and the upper layer to produce negative pressure to prevent blood soaking and infiltration to achieve effective hemostasis and lower blood loss.
Animal experiments show the survival time of rats bleeding from the carotid artery extended by about 40 percent by the new hemostatic gauze, which is expected to allow more time for victim rescue.
Advanced Healthcare Materials – Superhydrophobic/Superhydrophilic Janus Fabrics Reducing Blood Loss
Hemostatic fabrics are most commonly used in baseline emergency treatment; however, the unnecessary blood loss due to the excessive blood absorption by traditional superhydrophilic fabrics is overlooked. Herein, for the first time, superhydrophobic/superhydrophilic Janus fabrics (superhydrophobic on one side and superhydrophilic on the other) are proposed: the superhydrophilic part absorbs water in the blood to expedite the clotting while the superhydrophobic part prevents blood from further permeating. Compared with the common counterparts, effective bleeding control with reducing blood loss more than 50% can be achieved while the breathability largely remain by using Janus fabrics. The proposed prototypes can even prolong the survival time in the rat model with serious bleeding. This strategy for reducing blood loss via simply tuning wettability is promising for the practical applications.
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