UBC develops blood clotting powder
Posted October 4, 2015 7:28 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – It’s a new tool researchers hope could one day save lives, and it’s being developed by local researchers — it’s called a self-propelled powder.
“I think the technology would be very useful for paramedics, for first responders, to treat to the bleed in the first few minutes, or first half an hour after a wound,” says UBC assistant professor Christian Kastrup.
You apply it on gauze to a wound, and then the powder creates a clot at the source of the wound to stop the bleeding.
“You really need something that can stop that bleed fast,” says Kastrup. “That’s what our agent does. It pushes that coagulant deep into the wound so it can clot those damaged vessels and seal a wound rapidly.”
Kastrup says a key focus has been use as a way of stopping serious bleeding after childbirth.
The powder is still at least two or three years away from being tested on people.
