Army halts use of new anti-blood loss product

[308Mike]

Linkarooni

Army halts use of new anti-blood loss product

By Pauline Jelinek - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Dec 23, 2008 13:37:14 EST

WASHINGTON — Until more testing can be done, Army medics are being told to stop using a new product just sent to the war front to help control bleeding among wounded troops.

Officials were in the process of distributing some 17,000 packets of WoundStat, granules that are poured into wounds when special bandages, tourniquets or other efforts won’t work. But a recent study showed that, if used directly on injured blood vessels, the granules may lead to harmful blood clots, officials said Tuesday.

The Army Medical Command will continue its research and work with the manufacturer in hopes of figuring out in the next few months whether to resume use of WoundStat, said Col. Paul Cordts, head of Army health policy and services.

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[First Shirt]

We used something like that, called Quik-Klot, from a company called Z-Medica, and it worked like a charm. In fact, our local VFD/ERS unit uses it, but it's only intended for short-term care. You can't dump it on a wound and forget about it, and the hospitals don't like it because it has to be cleaned out of the wound prior to stitches or whatever, but it WILL stop even arterial bleeding like magic.

[mekender]

yea, thats part of the pack that my company helped put together

[308Mike]

Quik-Klot works so well you can now buy it on the civilian open market. I've seen it for sale on the web, but haven't checked any of my local medical supply stores yet.

[Lokidude]

Qwik-Clot is about the neatest thing since sliced bread. Safer than a tourniquet, and oh so fast. And it really shines in hard to bandage locations. I hope the Army can work out their issues with the new stuff.

[Aegis]

I've got a bunch of HemCon bandages. Same basic principle, but in chitin bandage form, rather than powder. Doesn't fall into the wound and create major internal issues (unless you have shellfish allergies; then it's not so hot.) Neat little bandages.

[JAG2955]

Hemostatic control agents are the shiznit if you're trained on them. If not, they're not terribly useful. QuikClot is great, but it is only to be used in groin/armpit arterial bleeds. BE SURE TO CONTINUE TO APPLY HEAVY DIRECT PRESSURE. I've never personally used WoundStat, though I understand the principle is the same.

Hemcon is also some good stuff, I got to train with it, but we don't carry it in our IFAKs because the Marine Corps is too cheap. Hemcon can be used on arterial bleeds if you can see the source of the blood. Where it shines is on a jugular/neck wound.

Newer on the market is QuikClot Combat Gauze, which is gauze impregnated with an improved QuikClot that doesn't heat up as much. Another one is Celox, which you pour into the wound and knead it to an oatmeal-like consistency which then clots.