New first-aid products could save lives, officials say Published Oct. 17, 2008 By Sarah Maxwell American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON (AFNS) -- Two new first-aid products being sent into the combat theater could save more servicemembers' lives, medical officials said at a Pentagon news conference Oct. 15. Test results from the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command's Institute of Surgical Research, or ISR, showed Combat Gauze field bandages and WoundStat granules both demonstrated marked improvements over what's currently used in the field, Army Col. (Dr.) Paul Cordts of the Army surgeon general's office said. "These products improve survival, result in less blood loss and improved post-injury blood pressures," he said. Excessive blood loss is the No. 1 killer on the battleground, Dr. Cordts, a surgeon, said. Both products can stop bleeding quickly in wounds where tourniquets can't be used, he said. Combat Gauze uses kaolin, a fine, white clay, to stop bleeding, he said, and WoundStat granules react with blood to form a barrier, preventing more bleeding. More than 92 percent of troops wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan survive their injuries in combat, the highest percentage of any war, according to U.S. Army Medical Department officials. Army Master Sgt. Horace Tyson, a combat medic, said he attributes the high number of people being saved to the advanced tools medics have, such as dressings that stop or slow blood flow from wounds. Having recently returned from a 15-month assignment in Iraq as the senior enlisted manager in a battalion aid station in the heart of Baghdad, Sergeant Tyson said he saw first-hand the benefits of dressings with blood-clotting capabilities. "I categorize these products as lifesavers for us," he said. A servicemember can bleed to death within minutes of being hurt, Sergeant Tyson said. "The bandages make the difference between a [soldier] having no chance of living because he'll bleed out in five minutes vs. me getting him to an aid station within 20 minutes and him staying alive," Sergeant Tyson said. "Without the bandages, he could be dead." With 19 years of experience and four deployments in conflict areas under his belt, Sergeant Tyson said, he's seen scientific research drastically improve medics' tools and training. "If we're going to get something else better for the battlefield, that's great," he said. About 270,000 12-foot strips of Combat Gauze are expected to be in theater by the end of the year, said Army Lt. Col. Sean Morgan from Program Executive Office Soldier, the agency fielding most of the bandages. More than 17,000 packages of WoundStat also will be working their way to the field, he said. The new dressings are expected not only to save more lives, but also to bring significant cost savings to the government, Dr. Cordts said. Combat Gauze is less than $30 per dressing, compared to the currently used HemCon bandage, which uses chitosan from shrimp shells to stop blood and costs $88 per bandage. WoundStat also is less expensive than the QuikClot granules it replaces. Although the new hemostatic dressings are promising great improvements, Dr. David Baer, ISR's director of surgical research, said it doesn't mean officials aren't still looking for the next line of products that could offer even more improvements. ISR scientists looked into about two dozen other products in the last few years before they discovered Combat Gauze and WoundStat, and they will continue their efforts for even more cutting-edge products to save lives, he said. "The way I think about it is the HemCon was better than the plain gauze, [Combat Gauze] is better than the HemCon, and it can get incrementally better," Dr. Baer said. Comment on this story (comments may be published on Air Force Link) View the comments/letters page