Researchers in Montreal have developed a way to help control severe bleeding and improve treatment for people with clotting disorders, though they say it could still take time before it’s used in clinical settings.
Called “click clotting,” the aim is to use a person’s own blood or donor blood to make a stronger blood clot through a chemical reaction to help control bleeding faster than what is currently used.
“We need to manage the heavy bleeding, also known as hemorrhage, and the existing approach has limitations,” said Jianyu Li, senior author of the research and mechanical engineering professor at McGill University.
Li is referencing previous work that used blood cells to create what’s called chitosan. But the issue with this was that it could be brittle and would not always create consistent clotting.
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Li said researchers have found a way to use a chemical reaction to create the clots within 10 to 20 minutes that can then help with inpatient emergency care, wound management or other settings where there are often time constraints.
“With a better clot, you can help to very quickly stop the bleeding and also with the magic with all our blood, it can help to promote the regeneration,” he said. “That is a life-saving kind of technology.”
He said the overall clotting process currently can take a minute or up to five minutes in some situations, but when the synthetic blood cloths are applied, they can stop the bleeding in seconds, working “almost instantaneously” to form a clot.
The clots will also be about 10 times tougher, meaning they can last longer and help in the healing process.
The results of the research were confirmed to be effective through in vitro testing, as well as through testing on rodents.
“A highlight was the effective healing and regeneration observed in the injured liver, with performance exceeding that of the clinically used product tested in this study,” a news release about the study said.
It also found there was “minimal evidence” of immune reactivity and no toxicity in major organs.
Though the research is promising, Li acknowledged further study is still required before click clotting can be used in clinical settings.
This includes further trials, including a large animal model and in humans. Researchers also need to identify in which settings the research can be used best, whether it’s more in trauma care or in multiple settings like surgeries.
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