Extra Credit Blog 1 – XStat, new military healing technology

xstat_1In order to save more lives, a group of veterans, scientists, and engineers known as RevMedx have created a pocket-sized device called XStat. XStat is a faster, more effective way that soldiers out in battle will be able to plug wounds to reduce bleeding and infection. The design is comprised of a poly carbonate syringe that slides deep into a wounds, such as a bullet track, in order to deposit dozens of pill-size sponges that expand to stem bleeding(1). These sponges are what stops the bleeding. The small sponges are coated with chitosan which is a substance that clots blood and fights off infection(2). The FDA has recently stated that, “The sponges are safe to leave in the body for up to four hours, allowing enough time for a patient to get to an operating room. To ensure they don’t get left inside a wound, X-shaped markers make each sponge visible on an x-ray image”.

XStat is the first battlefield dressing designed specifically for deep, narrow wounds in areas like the armpit or groin, where medics can’t place a tradition tourniquet(a constructing device, specifically a bandage, used to control venous and arterial circulation to an extremity for a period of time(3)). As for the future of this product, RevMedx is now developing a version of the device that will be able to stop postpartum bleeding(aka Lochia, which is a common experience that a woman will have after having a baby).

The creative inspiration of XStat first originated from looking at a Fix-a-Flat foam which is a tire-repair kit. “That’s what we pictured as the perfect solution – something you could spray in, it would expand and bleeding stops…but we found that blood pressure is so high, blood would was the foam right out,” Mr. Steinbaugh said, in Popular Science(4). The team then brainstormed and decided to turn to sponges in which they injected into an animal injury. “The bleeding stopped…our eyes lit up…we knew we were onto something,” Mr. Steinbaugh said, in the magazine. The Army then provided $5 in funding for the company to take its prototype to final development. Currently each single-use XStat costs about $100 but RevMedx expects the price to decline, as demand escalates. XStat seems to be the next big thing in military health services as it has resolved a forever debated topic.

1 – http://www.popsci.com/article/technology/invention-awards-2014-seal-combat-wounds-15-seconds?dom=PSC&loc=recent&lnk=2&con=IMG

2 – http://www.popsci.com/article/technology/simple-invention-sealing-gunshot-wounds-gets-fda-approval

3 – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torniquet

4 – http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/feb/4/xstat-invention-seals-bullet-wounds-15-seconds/

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