New battlefield gunshot wound treatment was inspired by ‘Fix-a-Flat’ tire repair foam

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/02/04/new-battlefield-gunshot-wound-treatment-was-inspired-by-fix-a-flat-tire-repair-foam/



Spc. Joel Swenson, from Sedro Woolley, Wash., and Pfc. Pete Mehall, from Trumansburg, NY, both Combat Medics with the 1st Squadron, 40th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, in Afghanistan

New battlefield gunshot wound treatment was inspired by ‘Fix-a-Flat’ tire repair foam
By David Ferguson
Tuesday, February 4, 2014 11:26 EST

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Steinbaugh joined other combat medics, engineers, doctors and scientists at a startup named RevMedx, where they dedicated themselves to finding a new, more reliable way to stop bleeding. They needed something they could spray into a wound that would expand quickly like Fix-a-Flat, which rapidly expands to make a leaking tire airtight again.

“That’s what we pictured as the perfect solution: something you could spray in, it would expand, and bleeding stops,” Steinbaugh said. “But we found that blood pressure is so high, blood would wash the foam right out.”

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XStat looks like a large syringe full of pills, but the pill-shaped objects are in fact fast-expanding sponges that go from compressed to full expansion in 15 seconds. Each sponge is marked with an “X” that is visible on x-rays to keep them from being left behind in the body by surgeons.

The device is considerably smaller than the five bulky rolls of gauze each medic normally carries. RevMedx has submitted the XStat — as well as a smaller version for narrower injuries such as shrapnel and small-caliber bullets — to the FDA for approval. If the devices are approved, they could revolutionize battlefield trauma care and ultimately save lives in the civilian world as well.