Background: Bleeding often poses significant life-threatening situations to surgeons. After trauma, a one-third of civilian casualties and one-half of combat casualties die as a result of exsanguination. Recent advances have provided promising new hemostatic dressings that are applied directly to severely bleeding wounds in the pre-hospital period.
Methods: The modified Rapid Deployment Hemostat (mRDH) trauma/surgery bandage, containing fully acetylated, diatom-derived, poly-N-acetyl-glucosamine fibers, has a unique multifactorial hemostatic action that incorporates vasoconstriction, erythrocyte agglutination, and platelet and RBC activation.
Results: Animal studies have shown that the mRDH bandage quickly and completely stops both venous and arterial bleeding, even in the presence of a coagulopathy. A prospective study in humans is in accord with these findings.
Conclusion: The mRDH trauma/surgery bandage was able to increase survival of patients after high-grade liver trauma with an associated coagulopathy. Additional clinical studies support this result.