Portable clotting agent slows internal bleeding by 97% in mice

Friday, July 31, 2020 - 20:50 in Health & Medicine

When it comes to traumatic injuries, it’s a race against time. A person with major hemorrhage can die from blood loss within minutes. Bleeding from the extremities can be slowed with compression but what about internal bleeding? In a hospital, internal bleeding can be controlled with the transfusion of clotting agents, such as platelets, but they require careful storage and refrigeration and can’t be carried by first responders. As a result, the majority of people who succumb to traumatic injuries outside a hospital die from treatable hemorrhages. Now, researchers from the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), in collaboration with Massachusetts General Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and Case Western Reserve University, report an injectable clotting agent that reduced blood loss by 97 percent in mice models. The freeze-dried agent, which has a physical consistency of cotton candy, can be stored at room temperature for...

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