Instant bloodclot fesability?
bernard at elsie.nci.nih.gov
Wed Nov 16 02:32:48 EST 1994
In article <3a9ss1$ggs at gabriel.keele.ac.uk>, u3f38 at cc.keele.ac.uk (DG Coombes) writes:
> Anthony Tomlinson (tomlinson at pplros.demon.co.uk) wrote:
> : Yes, it's possible, feasible, and in common use in American
> : surgery. I believe (I just read about it recently,
> : and it's not my field) that fibrinogen and thrombin are
> : squirted from a double-barreled syringe type thing (epoxy
> : resin applicators spring to mind), onto
> : a wound (eye surgery and GI surgery were mentioned),
> : and more or less instantly seal it. Sutures may still be
> : used for strength, but the fibrin does the sealing.
> So why isn't it in more general use at accidents etc? I was thinking more
> of an (environmentally friendly) aerosol for use in motorway pile-ups etc.
> David Coombes (u3f38 at keele.ac.uk)
I think that the principle is applied, but through the use of an impregnated
gauze rather than an aerosol (which sounds a bit too much like something
from Dr. McCoy ;-) ). I'd guess that in a motorway pile-up a tourniquet would
be a little more effective than a giant blood clot. You'll notice that both
of the examples cited above are for surgery on a small scale. I suppose its
somewhat ironic that most of the high-tech research appears to have gone
into preventing/dissolving blood clots (eg. TPA).
Bernard Murray, Ph.D.
bernard at elsie.nci.nih.gov (National Cancer Institute, NIH, Bethesda MD, USA)
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