First post !

Well guys this is my first post ! so i thot id talk about something i think is a massive leap forward in the my line of work . any nurses , doctors , surgeons  or even Paramedics will have heard of these what im talking about is topical hemostaics. to give you an idea i work as a medic withe the uk reserve forces my role in the army is to provide life saving first aid to soilder injured in combat ...so the majour part of the job is being able to stop bleeding FAST! .

For anyone that doesnt know topical hemostaics that are used in the military setting are

Quickclot - this comes in a vacum sealed bags and contains granuals that can be poured directly into a wound

Hemcon - this is a small square stiff dressing that can be placed of stumps or inside wounds with a defintive source of bleeding.

Celox gauze - this uses the same chemical compund as hemcon but comes as a gauze roll and as a result can be used in a wide array of injurys .

so why are these used ? well in the pre hospital military wounds can vary greatly its not as simple as slaping a dressing over the wound and its solved . for serious limb wound we can  use combat tourniquets to control bleeds that cannot be controled with simple pressure or indirect pressure but what if the injury is in groin ? or the armpit ? or even the neck ? well this is where hemostaics come into play they can be forced into these spaces to control bleeding .

How do they work ?

Well most of these products contain a chemical called Chitosan which is made from shrimp shelll . in simple terms Chitosan contains a postive charge which attracts red blood cells which are negativly charged . this cause a clot to form very quikly once the dressing has been placed into the wound and thus stop bleeding very quickly .


Are they dangerous ?

most of the compunds used are fairly safe if protocolsl for their use is followed . they also cause no known (to my knowlage) allergic reactions and are very sterile and easy removed from the body . theres is however 1 expection to this in my mind. the Product Quickclot or other simliar comes in a vacum sealed pack and works diffrently to the likes of Hemcon or cleox . once Quickclot is poured into a wound and it comes into contact with blood it causes an exothermic reaction up to 57.c  this means that if granuals fall onto skin that has sweat or blood in contact with it this will cause a cheimical burn .  i would also no advised to use the likes of quicklcot on high artieal bleeding as it can spurt the grannuals and mix with blood which  could harm the rescuer .altho if the bleeding is well controled through pressure this could be used .

in my mind these are a great tool for any pre hosital rescuer but it cannot be stressed these are emergency products efforts should always be made to control bleeding through contventional routes eg pressure or indrect pressure but an experianced medic will know just by looking at a wound if this viable .

in my role now we mainly use celox gauze  now and has replaced hemocon and quickclot


i have heard of these prodcuts being used in surgery but i do not know how they are used ... i assume in the same mannor to the pre hospital enviroment . if anyone knows anything about there use in surgery please let me know :)

so i dont know what else to write  i could go on forver about this ! : ) theres a few links below to  some of the items iv been talking about . any questions or corrections are welcome :D .

http://hemcon.com/Products/HemConBandageOverview/HemConBandage2x2.aspx

http://www.celoxmedical.com/prods_gauze.htm

couldnt find the info page for quickclot sorry !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJRs-ZNX6tA&feature=related

good little video showing how its applied .

well cheers guys ! il post anthor random medical topic soon :)