Biodegradable Tissue-Adhesive Polyester Mat for Hemorrhage Control
Abstract
Anyone who has tried using a store-bought adhesive to stick two wet objects will appreciate the difficulty of achieving this task. This become even more challenging when the objects are underwater or if you are trying to seal a joint in presence of gushing water. These scenarios help to appreciate the challenges that military medics face when they have to treat Warfighters with injured bleeding organs and have to seal the tissue and stop bleeding in order to save lives. Injuries, especially blast injuries that occur to the torso, damage soft organs such as liver, spleen, lungs, and stomach (non-compressible torso hemorrhage). Due to the soft and wet nature of these organs, it is not possible to apply tourniquets or mechanical pressure, which are the techniques used to stop blood loss in hand or leg injuries. Therefore, there is a constant need for better technologies that can address tissue injuries and blood loss in non-compressible torso hemorrhages. The current technologies mostly rely on gauze materials that are used to pack liver injuries and mechanically stop hemorrhage. Technologies that deliver certain proteins to mimic the clotting mechanism of the body and thereby control bleeding are also used for hemorrhage control. Although these technologies are available, they are deficient in their performance either due to their inefficiency to stop hemorrhage, the risk of re-injury upon removal in follow-on procedures, or in the high cost and unsuitability for battlefield conditions. The research being conducted through this award will take a fresh look at how torso hemorrhage is addressed. The work will design soft polymers adhesive to adhere to lacerated organs and stop blood flow. The adhesive will stay on the wet liver even in presence of flowing blood. The adhesives are designed with chemical groups that will react with blood and tissue components to provide a seal on the injured tissues. This soft nature of the adhesive will allow it to conform to any shape of the injured tissues and will stop blood flow in < 3 minutes and will prevent re-bleeding. These polymers will be tested and optimized to provide initial data regarding the use of such polymers as tissue adhesives for hemorrhage control in non-compressible torso hemorrhage.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Dec 28, 2022
- Source ID
- W81XWH2210052
Entities
People
- Abraham Joy
Organizations
- United States Army
- University of Akron