Shrimp Bandages Save Soldiers

[Capper]

After a long search for a better way to stop extreme bleeding, the U.S. Army has purchased more than 400,000 bandages made from chitosan, a polysaccharide extracted from the exoskeletons of Icelandic shrimp.
Before deciding on the $10 million HemCon purchase last year, the Army tested fibrin bandages, collagen sponges and nanoporous ceramic powder.
"The chitosan dressing has achieved over 97 percent success rates for external hemorrhage control in current combat operations," says Dr. John McManus of the Army research program for Combat Casualty Care.
Chitosan is a mucoadhesive, which means it gets very sticky when wet with blood. It's a derivative of chitin, the hard carbohydrate found in insect and shellfish exoskeletons, and has been used by tissue engineers as a scaffold for growing new body parts. It has also been used to deliver drugs.

Shrimp Bandages Save Soldiers

[Quakindude]

Wow! This whole topic is simply amazing! Thanks for the post Rich.

[simple_inhibition]

it definitely works and stops the bleedig. but it burns the hell out of you in the process. better than bleeding out though.

[wtcnbrwndo4u]

Damn, amazing what nature can do eh?

So it's like a prolonged burn feeling that you'd get from say, rubbing an alcohol pad over a wound?

[simple_inhibition]

no, the hemcon itself burns because of a chemical reaction. lots of heat is released. i have some video's i got while i was at Ft Sam last september ill try to upload to show you how it works. the problem with chitosan is it only comes in pads about 4"x4" which is great for gunshot wounds, but most of the injuries over here are from blast wounds much much larger. also trying to stuff one of these things in a wound to stop an artery bleed is hard becuase you have to stuff it inside the wound itself. this is where hemcon is better. just pour it in there and you have an almost instant clot

[gvblake22]

Originally Posted by simple_inhibition

no, the hemcon itself burns because of a chemical reaction. lots of heat is released. i have some video's i got while i was at Ft Sam last september ill try to upload to show you how it works. the problem with chitosan is it only comes in pads about 4"x4" which is great for gunshot wounds, but most of the injuries over here are from blast wounds much much larger. also trying to stuff one of these things in a wound to stop an artery bleed is hard becuase you have to stuff it inside the wound itself. this is where hemcon is better. just pour it in there and you have an almost instant clot

WOW, after reading that I am just shuddering and my hair stood on end. I don't know how you do what you do, but I'm glad you can do it!

"Only 4"x4" pads". I can't even imagine having a 4" x 4" wound that is bleeding uncontrollably, let alone something bigger!