Syringe Filled With Sponges That Helps Gunshot Wounds

The RevMedx XSTAT 30 is a first of its kind life saving device for the treatment of gunshot and shrapnel wounds, designed for worst case scenarios on the battlefield where advanced medical care is hours away.

The XSTAT 30 is a syringe like device that injects small sponges directly into the wound that rapidly expand, filling the wound and providing hemostatic pressure from the inside. It temporarily stops hemorrhaging or bleeding out for up to four hours by actually plugging the hole.

The Tech Info Group did some research on this device and found that the leading cause of death in combat is hemorrhaging and bleeding out - deep wounds from the battlefield where arteries have been torn and the bleeding cannot be controlled. For penetrating wounds - bullets, knives, shrapnel - where the limbs meet the torso, in applications where a tourniquet or compression cannot be used, the XSTAT 30 fills the wound with tiny antimicrobial sponges that expand and plug the wound in around fifteen seconds, applying internal pressure until the patient can be transported.

The sponges are designed from wood pulp and chitosan, a cellulose-like bipolymer found in the exoskeletons of crustaceans like shrimps and crabs. They stick to wet surfaces to trigger expansion and stimulate clotting. Each tiny sponge expands up to fifteen times its size, and one application can absorb up to a pint of blood. One application is more effective than ten rolls of gauze because compression is delivered from inside the wound. The sponges also contain an x-ray detectable marker for easy removal in surgery.

The XSTAT 30 is a life saving device that answers an unmet need in battlefield medicine. First responders to worst case scenarios stand a better chance of preventing combat deaths. In wounds that are deep, especially in cases of torn arteries, life or death depends on controlling rapid blood loss.

The computer network support firm found that its development was supported by grants from the U.S. Special Operations Command and the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command’s Combat Casualty Care Research Program, approved for battlefield use in 2014. There are limitations. It is designed for s fixed sized wound - a bullet hole, a stab wound, or shrapnel - and it is not designed for use in the chest, back, pelvis, or above the collarbone. But make no mistake - for emergency treatment of life threatening wounds on the battlefield, the XSTAT 30 is the difference between a battlefield casualty and a survivable injury.