Uncontrolled bleeding resulting from traumatic and irregularly shaped wounds leads to a significant loss of lives in both civilian and military populations. In the United States alone, traumatic injuries result in over 150,000 deaths annually, with hemorrhage being the major cause of potentially survivable death. Moreover, the war in Ukraine has shown that most of the injuries from high-energy weapons result in major abdominal and extremity trauma. A U.S. military forward surgical team database study of combat mortality in Afghanistan showed that of all fatalities, only 14% died in a pre-hospital setting whereas 86% died in a Role 2 facility with most deaths arising from complications due to non-compressible torso hemorrhage (NCTH). Additionally, the removal of material post hemostasis can be cumbersome and leads to rebleeding.

The non-compressible irregularly shaped wounds, deranged coagulation due to medications, and cumbersome material removal after hemostasis pose a multi-faceted challenge. Commercially available solutions to address this challenge are cost-intensive, pose immunogenic risks, cause systemic thrombotic events, or lack biodegradability. Our strategy for tackling this complex problem is to develop liquid and solid biodegradable hemostatic material formats. Flowable adhesives possess the ability to fill irregular wounds and form a seal, while solid electrospun patches (EPs) restrict blood to the wound site and trigger clot formation.

Relevant publications from our lab: