The FDA has approved a sponge-filled syringe designed to close up gunshot wounds in merely 20 seconds for use by America’s civilian population.
The syringe, known as the Xstat Rapid Hemostasis System, was first developed for the military, but it can now be used by civilian first responders to control severe bleeding.
How the Xstat works from the company’s website:
XStat® is a first-in-kind hemostatic device for the treatment of gunshot and shrapnel wounds. XStat works by injecting a group of small, rapidly-expanding sponges into a wound cavity using a syringe-like applicator. Each sponge contains an x-ray detectable marker. In the wound, the XSTAT sponges expand and swell to fill the wound cavity within 20 seconds of contact with blood. This creates a temporary barrier to blood flow and provides hemostatic pressure.
“When a product is developed for use in the battlefield, it is generally intended to work in a worstcase scenario where advanced care might not be immediately available,” said William Maisel, M.D., M.P.H., acting director of the Office of Device Evaluation in the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health. “It is exciting to see this technology transition to help civilian first responders control some severe, lifethreatening bleeding while on the trauma scene.”
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Look for the Xstat to be a potential lifesaving device when it comes to trauma scenarios, as the United States Army Institute of Surgical Research shows 30 to 40 percent of civilian deaths from traumatic injury are the result of hemorrhaging.
