Advanced Wound Dressing to Minimize Excess Blood Loss and Prevent Infection

Injuries such as cuts, bruises, punctures and lacerations are common perils that every human being undergoes. These injuries occur due to unforeseen accidents.  Road accidents, sport injuries, military accidents, gunshot wounds, home or workplace accidents, falls, cuts by a sharp object and bruises can result in bleeding, which if not properly controlled, can become severe.

Dangers of uncontrolled bleeding  

Uncontrolled breeding is the second leading cause of trauma related deaths among civilians. It is also the leading cause of death among active military personnel. Severe bleeding mainly occurs when the person has been subjected to a traumatic injury that ruptures the veins and/or arteries; during surgical procedures; with individuals with coagulopathy or bleeding disorder that prevent blood from clotting.

Uncontrolled bleeding causes double vision, drowsiness, seizures, headaches, convulsions and damage to joints.  It can also result in life threatening brain & organ damage and eventual death if not stopped in time.

Stopping bleeding and hemorrhage

It is imperative to save lives by controlling severe hemorrhage. Normally, the body’s platelets initiate the blood clotting process, which changes liquid blood into a clot, eventually stopping the blood flow. The clotting process activates platelets, followed by adhesion, aggregation and the development of fibrin from fibrinogen.

When the wound is large or arteries are ruptured, the platelet action may not be adequate to stop the bleeding in time. The most conventional method is to dress the wound. The dressing applies pressure on the wound resulting to cessation of blood flow. However, conventional dressing and bandages take longer to stop bleeding and blood may percolate through several layers of dressing.

New & advanced dressing techniques such as Axiostat®, powered by ‘Axio Clotting Technology (A.C.T)’ comprises of a biopolymer that initiates the clotting process and stops the bleeding within few minutes after application.

Haemostatic wound dressing

Haemostatic wound dressing refers to the process of applying specially designed materials to stop blood loss by accelerating the blood clotting process. The material is applied directly on the bleeding site and stops bleeding shortly after application.

Wound dressing in emergency conditions

Wound dressing in emergency conditions requires a fast and effective application process. This ensures that bleeding ceases as quickly as possible. Cases of accidents, injuries, gunshot wounds where there is profuse bleeding require materials such as Haemostatic dressings. These materials are tailor-made to accelerate blood clotting. They are also sterile and prevent infections.

Specially designed materials can be applied in different parts of the body such as limbs, torso, head, neck, shoulders and gum during dental operations.

Axiostat – Mechanism of action 

There are a number of Haemostatic wound dressing technologies. Each technique has a unique agent and is available as granular powder or impregnated on bandages. These techniques can be classified as factor concentrators which use zeolite, muco-adhesive agents such as Chitosan and procoagulant supplements such as Kaolin agent.

Axio Clotting Technology uses Chitosan, that is comprised of distributed β--linked D-glucosamine and N-acetyl-D-glucosamine.  Chitosan occurs naturally in shellfish and is biocompatible. When positively-charged Chitosan comes to contact with anions in the red blood cells, a very strong adhesive seal is formed creating a mechanical barrier for the blood. Additionally, the attraction causes platelet aggregation and activation creating the formation of fibrin and eventually a blood clot. The formation of clot occurs independently of natural clotting cascade​and therefore patients with blood clotting disorders can also use it.

Chitosan is 100% natural and has inherent anti-bacterial, anti-fungal & haemostatic properties.