VCU news

By Joe Kuttenkuler

A lightweight, granular, dressing compound developed by Virginia Commonwealth University researchers that quickly stems high-pressure bleeding in moderate to severe wounds is going into combat.

WoundStat, which received federal approval last September, last week gained the endorsement of the DOD Joint Committee on Tactical Combat Casualty Care for wide-spread military use – the first time that all branches of the military have come to consensus regarding a product for treating injuries involving severe bleeding.

"The real satisfaction will come when we begin to hear reports about how many lives are being saved by the WoundStat technology," said Robert F. Diegelmann, Ph.D., professor of biochemistry, anatomy & emergency medicine at the VCU School of Medicine, and a member of the VCU Reanimation Engineering Shock Center (VCURES) team that developed WoundStat.

"The ultimate goal of our years of research and development was to create a product to save lives," said Gary Bowlin, Ph.D., associate professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering. "It is gratifying to see one's ideas develop into a commercially available product with such potential."

The patent-pending technology behind WoundStat is the result of more than three years of study and development by VCURES researchers.

Four different studies conducted by VCU, the Army's Institute for Surgical Research, the Air Force, and the Naval Medical Research Center proved WoundStat is the most effective hemostat agent available for high pressure arterial wounds.

In each study, WoundStat was the only product that resulted in 100 percent survival. The novel wound treatment begins clotting in minutes and can halt potentially deadly arterial hemorrhaging for at least two hours.

"Uncontrolled bleeding continues to be the primary cause of death on the battlefield," said Kevin Ward, M.D., a VCU emergency physician and associate director of VCURES. "WoundStat was developed from the beginning, recognizing the complex geometry of wounds sustained in combat as well as the tremendous environmental challenges under which such a life-saving product must work.

"Now it is possible to stop life-threatening hemorrhage in less than a minute -- while in the rain -- while under gunfire," Ward said. "Many of these wounds simply cannot be adequately treated with a gauze-type bandage."

And WoundStat's benefits may extend far beyond the battlefield.

"It will provide a life-saving tool in everyday civilian emergency situations as well as where advanced medical care is not immediately available, such as accidents in remote terrain and on the high seas, or in unexpected disasters such as earthquakes or explosions, said retired Lt. Gen. Ronald Blanck, DO, former Surgeon General of the Army.

WoundStat is licensed to TraumaCure Inc. in Bethesda, Md.