The US Food and Drug Administration has approved a futuristic gel that can stop severe bleeding from life-threatening injuries, like a deep cut or gunshot wound, for human use.
As Reuters reports, the invention could represent a big leap, providing first responders a way to treat major wounds in a matter of seconds.
The gel dubbed Traumagel was developed by Cresilon, a medical device company based in Brooklyn.
"This is for stab wounds, gunshot wounds, motor vehicle accidents — really anywhere where this product will stand between a patient and death," Cresilon CEO Joe Landolina told Reuters.
Current methods that use tourniquets, gauze wraps, or chemicals can take a relatively long time to stem the bleeding, unlike Traumagel which can effectively patch a life-threatening injury in seconds, according to Landolina.
Traumagel, an algae-derived product, comes in a syringe, is ready for use, and is easy to apply.
Landolina told Reuters the product will be commercially available in late 2024, and envisions the gel being used by paramedics and combat medics out in the field.
"91 percent of battlefield mortality relates to what we call preventable hemorrhage, meaning that if there were only a better product to stop bleeding, countless lives could be saved," he told Reuters.
Company literature says the gel is a temporary patch, but the short span a person has Traumagel covering up a wound could give them enough time to get to an emergency room to have their wound permanently sealed.
And when it comes to a matter of life and death, that's enough.
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