Have you heard of a gel to stop bleeding?

I don't suppose it would be helpful if there was internal bleeding, but perhaps it would be useful for a wound:

http://www.healthline.com/health-news/tech-nyu-student-invents-clotting-veti-gel-031513

Joe Landolina’s Veti-Gel can halt major bleeding in seconds, without the need to apply pressure.

Joe Landolina may not be the next Mark Zuckerberg, but he might have found his billion-dollar idea. And unlike Zuckerberg, Landolina could save millions of lives before he’s old enough to drink.

Landolina, a 20-year-old junior at New York University, created a gel from plant polymers that mimics the human extracellular matrix, a substance produced by the body that sets off the process of blood clot formation. He calls it Veti-Gel.

When applied to an open wound, Veti-Gel bonds to the surrounding flesh, forming a tight seal. Not only does the gel initiate the blood clotting process, it also speeds healing.

Landolina says he’s been able to instantly halt bleeding in mice with sliced livers and punctured carotid arteries during lab tests. He’s even posted a rather gruesome YouTube video (featuring a pork loin-ectomy) to prove it.

"I have seen [Veti-Gel] close any size wound that it is applied to," Landolina told TechNewsDaily. "As long as you can cover it, it can close it."

Landolina and fellow New York University undergraduate Isaac Miller have founded a company called Suneris, Inc. as a vehicle to bring Veti-Gel to market.

Better Than the Competition

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, better known as DARPA, last year funded research into an injectable foam that applies pressure in the abdominal cavity to stop bleeding after a blast injury. Veti-Gel may do for external wounds what DARPA’s foam can for internal ones.

Veti-Gel has several distinct advantages over other products currently used by first responders and battlefield medics. It can be stored at room temperature, it forms a protective coating over the wound to stop bleeding without the need to apply pressure, and it may even help heal first- and second-degree burns.

The U.S. military now uses a product called QuickClot—a piece of gauze soaked in the drying agent kaolin. However, applying QuickClot requires putting several minutes of steady pressure on the wound.

Floseal, a product used by hospitals to slow bleeding during surgery is similar in application to Veti-Gel, but is made of a gelatin derived from cow parts, which angers animal rights advocates.

According to TechNewsDaily, Landolina is designing experiments to test Veti-Gel against these other products, and may have results by summer 2013. He has also applied for a patent and begun the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval process, and he hopes to contract with the U.S. Department of Defense in the future.

This wunderkind could make a fortune from his invention, but the main beneficiaries of his potentially life-saving product are accident victims, combat troops, and surgical patients.

Dear Friends,

I am 73 years old with acquired vWD complicated with near zero factor VIII, ie. Hemophilia A. We keep 4 inch wide pressure bandage tape and a box of four by fours gauze pads on hand at all times along with large, medium and small band-aid type products. These can be packaged in a carry-along case to go with you in the car or boat. I am a ddavp non-responder so stimate doesn't do much for me but I do have some with me in the carry-along. I also have a wallet card with a description of my history and need for alphanate to be ordered to alleviate any sign of bleeding internally or not subject to pressure bandaging. The note also has phone numbers to connect the health care personnel to my records at my local hospital.I am ordering a second medic alert bracelet to emphasize the non-ddavp response I have developed. Unfortunately, in the past two months I have had a bad experience with one hospital and associated ER department. They do not have experience with this type of condition and are averse to even consider ordering expensive clotting factor medications like Alphanate. I have been told that an APTT of 45 seconds means I am not in a life-threatening situation even while blood is pouring out of a small incision on my leg.. I lost two liters of blood in 12 hours in that situation, which ddavp did nothing.

I carry information from Grifols, (Alphanate supplier) and NIH on appropriate treatment for vWD and Hemophilia A patients. I also start going up the administrative ladder when I meet resistance from mid-level practitioners in hospitals. There usually is a Patient Ombudsman who can lean on Pharmacy and ER people when they are told what the nature of the disease is and how rarely it presents to ER personnel.

John the Elder

Thank you, John, for sharing the precautions that you take. I am sure it will help other members. Clearly, hospitals need to be better educated about this condition.

John - great useful info. Thanks for sharing your experience