Mini-Sponge Wound Dressing Controls Hemorrhage

A syringe-like device injects a large number of tiny, rapidly expanding sponges into a wound cavity, quickly controlling bleeding when tourniquets are not an option.

The XStat 30 device is a 30 mm diameter applicator shaped like a large syringe that holds 92 tablet-sized, mini-cellulose sponges that are coated with an absorbent hemostatic agent. Once injected into a bleeding wound, the compressed sponges expand when they come in contact with fluids, thus rapidly filling a volume substantially larger than that of their compressed state. Besides helping to provide hemostasis for up to four hours until surgery, the sponges also provide a surface on which blood clots can begin to form.

The Xstat 30 is intended for use in patients at high risk for immediate, life-threatening and severe hemorrhagic shock and for use in non-compressible junctional wounds, such as the armpit or groin, or when definitive care at an emergency care facility cannot be reached within minutes. It is not indicated for use in the thorax, pleural cavity, mediastinum, abdomen, retroperitoneal space, sacral space, or in tissues above the clavicle. Since the sponges are eventually removed, each has a tiny radiopaque marker that is visible on X-ray.

The XStat 30 device, a product of RevMedx (Wilsonville, OR, USA), will be marketed in packages of one or three applicators, each with a telescoping handle and a sealed valve tip; the telescoping mechanism allows the handle to be stored in a shortened state to maximize compactness. The number of sponges necessary to stop bleeding depends on the size and depth of the wound, with each applicator capable of absorbing about 570 mL blood, and with up to three applicators indicated for use on a given patient.

“The majority of people with massive abdominal bleeding die before they reach the hospital,” said David King, MD, a trauma surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston, MA, USA). “Many of these deaths could be prevented if we were able to temporarily stabilize a patient long enough to reach a trauma center.”

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