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Phil Gunby

JAMA. 1999;281:2079.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Sometime next year, clinical trials may begin with a blood-clotting bandage being developed by a US Army Medical Command and American Red Cross scientific team. Army physicians are interested because bleeding is the most common cause of death for those wounded in battle, while the Red Cross says such dressings could be kept ready in civilian emergency vehicles and at remote locations. The US Food and Drug Administration evaluation of this "medical device" may take 3 to 5 more years.

The approach involves freeze-drying the human plasma proteins fibrinogen and thrombin, after filtering for bacterial and viral contamination, onto a dissolvable backing. The bandage can be stored without refrigeration but must be in an airtight, radiation-sterilized foil pack that prevents absorption of water from the air, which could activate its components. Unwrapped and pressed into a wound, the 4-inch-square bandage's thrombin—activated by the patient's blood—causes platelets to collect . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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