If you could stop traumatic bleeding faster, would you?
Of course you would: You know you get better outcomes for hemorrhagic shock when bleeding can be stopped early.
That’s the premise behind Z-Medica‘s QuikClot Combat Gauze, an innovative surgical gauze shown to be 100 percent effective in stopping traumatic bleeding by the second application in a model of simulated hemorrhagic shock.
Studies show that QuikClot is effective in even very difficult conditions.
”... A kaolin-based hemostatic agent is highly effective even in subjects who experience severe physiologic conditions for more than six hours,” said Scott Garrett, Z-Medica’s vice president of military and tactical programs in a press release.
The secret is impregnating the gauze with this kaolin, a mineral extracted from soil, said Giacomo Basadonna, M.D., chief medical officer for Z-Medica and part of the team who developed QuikClot in 2006.
Although the gauze was originally developed for surgical applications, it’s been adopted by the military and EMS agencies nationwide, particularly in cath labs. Z-Medica wanted to use the medical worker’s instincts to generate better results for traumatic bleeding.
“The first thing they do when there’s bleeding?” Dr. Basadonna said. “They reach for gauze.”
Dr. Basadonna said that to develop this gauze, they didn’t want to use drugs or any substances that could cause allergic reactions. They wanted something safe, natural and green.
The mineral kaolin was the answer, and interest in using it to jumpstart clotting goes back to the 1920s, Dr. Basadonna said. Old papers show an interaction between the compound and the blood protein used first in the clotting process.
QuikClot is simple and easy to use, Dr. Basadonna said, because it looks like a roll of gauze -- and everybody knows how to use a roll of gauze.
“The fact that QuikClot Combat Gauze is as easy to carry, store and apply as standard gauze means that we can bring this potentially life-saving advantage to thousands of people affected by bleeding in the military, law enforcement, emergency medicine and other areas with no changes in standard operating procedures,” Dr. Basadonna said in the press release.
After the initial interaction between blood and the QuikClot gauze, the rest of the process is natural, usually clotting within a minute and a half.
“The first step is turning on the engine,” Dr. Basadonna said.