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A gel that can stop severe bleeding instantly

humansinvent.com

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Re: A gel that can stop severe bleeding instantly

#31
post #15

There are many blood stopping agents out on the market. Many of them were originally developed by/for the military in the Iraq/Afghanistan wars, and are now available to civilians. Here's a list of some of these products: Bleed-X, TraumaDEX - http://www.bleed-x.com/ http://www.bydezignproducts.com/bleedx.html BloodSTOP - http://www.lifescienceplus.com/ Celox - http://www.celoxmedical.com/ HemCon - http://www.hemcon.c…

As a man who enjoys a good shave, I can tell you that clotting agents sting like a bitch

Re: A gel that can stop severe bleeding instantly

#32
post #13

Could you not just use Superglue for a temporary fix before treatment?

I don't know enough to say why that would or wouldn't work in some absolute sense. But if we're comparing instead of talking absolutes, my first question to narrow it down is: "Doesn't superglue have some gnarly stuff in it? Stuff that you don't want in your body if an alternative like this exists?"

That'll depend on the exact type of superglue, but there's a more basic problem in that the standard stuff uses a cyanoacrylate that often is an irritant. So they use a slightly different variety in medicine, first trade name Dermabond, which was used the last time I got a bad enough cut. It's really good stuff, but as noted elsewhere, not so applicable for catastrophic hemorrhage.

Re: A gel that can stop severe bleeding instantly

#33
So where does the blood go?

The demo video shows an extreme bleed. Like a artery has been cut or something. Sure, you seal the blood in but wouldn't you still bleed out internally?

Like if you cut your femoral and gel up your leg. Would you survive for any length of time?

Re: A gel that can stop severe bleeding instantly

#34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately antibiotics are becoming less and less useful. In 50 years we could be back to where a cut on your toe is life-threatening. :(

I don't know if it'll ever get so bad that a small cut could be life-threatening but it certainly is a large issue. People need to learn that they need to take the antibiotics for as long the doctor told them to, deciding to stop taking them cause you don't feel so bad anymore is the main reason for drug-resistant bacterial strains.

And the use of antibiotics in food production: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subtherapeutic_antibiotic_use_i...

Re: A gel that can stop severe bleeding instantly

#35
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not a doctor, but from what I've read, treating an infection is usually considered much less of a priority by emergency responders than stopping severe bleeding. You can bleed to death in a few minutes. Few if any infections are going to be that fast-acting. So stopping severe bleeding will hopefully buy you some time to get to the ER, where they'll pump you full of antibiotics if they have to.

Unfortunately antibiotics are becoming less and less useful. In 50 years we could be back to where a cut on your toe is life-threatening. :(

From what I've read the antibiotic resistant strains of bacterial are outcompeted by non-antibiotic strains when not in the presence of antibiotics.

So if antibiotics become completely ineffective and people stop using them, the resistant strains will die off eventually, possibly quickly.

Re: A gel that can stop severe bleeding instantly

#36

I am a former critical care medic, and lack the scientific training to judge the merits of their claims about mechanism of action, but if history is any guide regarding ‘miracle’ products it will not live up to the manufacturers claims. The use cases I can think of and commentary: -Hemostasis after non-emergent ear/nose/throat procedures. -Packing of the wound + local epinephrine administration is currently used. It…

Well it seems that this gel might have very little application on it's own and would be best used in conjunction with traditional tried and tested methods.

The major flaw with this gel is the risk of Hematoma. Basically lets say you have a vessel that has been ruptured by trauma and you use this gel to pack up the external wound.

But the vessel is still leaky !! This will lead to collection of blood inside the body and can be harmful in the long run.

It seems this gel is most suited for (their first clients) the military. And would be effective on the field along with using tourniquet.

Also there is already a variety of Surgical Glue that is in use. But it's used along with traditional sutures as the glue is not strong enough and will rupture. So on the fragile inner layers we use the glue and then towards the skin which is much more stronger the usual catgut sutures are used.

Re: A gel that can stop severe bleeding instantly

#37

Could you not just use Superglue for a temporary fix before treatment?

Having previously worked as a carpenter I have vast experience with moderate size cuts, and always had a bottle of brush-on superglue in my belt. If you rinse the cut and leave it a little damp when you apply the superglue it actually pulls the wound closed as it dries as well as killing any bacteria.

Re: A gel that can stop severe bleeding instantly

#38

I am a former critical care medic, and lack the scientific training to judge the merits of their claims about mechanism of action, but if history is any guide regarding ‘miracle’ products it will not live up to the manufacturers claims. The use cases I can think of and commentary: -Hemostasis after non-emergent ear/nose/throat procedures. -Packing of the wound + local epinephrine administration is currently used. It…

OP (edit: submitter) has zero comment history and appears to have only submitted his own articles [1]. Not damning, but a red flag. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=leojkent

We all had a story or something that motivated us to register and comment.

I've heard everything he's said before from other people in trauma medicine. (but there are also people who will stick up for the Quickclot type stuff!) It's not my field and I'm not in a position to judge. I will say that I share his view that the article reads like something written by a PR flack.

Re: A gel that can stop severe bleeding instantly

#40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OP (edit: submitter) has zero comment history and appears to have only submitted his own articles [1]. Not damning, but a red flag. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/submitted?id=leojkent

We all had a story or something that motivated us to register and comment. I've heard everything he's said before from other people in trauma medicine. (but there are also people who will stick up for the Quickclot type stuff!) It's not my field and I'm not in a position to judge. I will say that I share his view that the article reads like something written by a PR flack.

I believe he was referring to the submitter.
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