ORLANDO, Fla., Oct. 15 (UPI) -- A powder made from potatoes can clot blood instantly and could prove useful in surgeries and on the battlefield for stopping life-threatening bleeding, researchers reported Tuesday.
The powder, made of purified potato starch, essentially "acts like a sponge and soaks up the water in the blood, concentrating coagulation factors," Mark Ereth, an associate professor of anesthesiology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and principal investigator of the study, told United Press International.
The study, presented at the American Society of Anesthesiologists annual meeting, described how Ereth's team made small lacerations on the arms of 30 volunteers and found the powder plus pressure on the wound reduced clotting time by 5 minutes compared with pressure alone.
"That's a substantial reduction" and could mean the difference between life and death for someone with a massive injury such as a gunshot wound or something that may occur in combat, Ereth said.
In the movie "Black Hawk Down," which depicts a real-life incident that occurred in Mogadishu, Somalia, American soldiers were dying due to uncontrollable bleeding from combat wounds. Animal studies indicated the potato-based powder could stop the bleeding from such massive wounds and keep the soldiers alive until they could be transported to a field hospital and treated, Ereth said. He noted the U.S. military presently does not equip soldiers with a blood-clotting compound.
There are a number of blood-clotting products on the market, Ereth said, "but most of them are cumbersome or expensive or both." This powder is both cheap and easy-to-use, he said.
Bob Cerza, spokesman for the Medafor, of Minneapolis, the powder's manufacturer, told UPI the military currently is "evaluating the compound for treating life-threatening hemorrhage on the battlefield." The U.S. Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory in Quantico, Va., is conducting studies in which "they lacerate major leg arteries in pigs and allow the wound to bleed for 5 minutes before applying the powder," he said.
Although the product still is under evaluation by the military, Cerza said they are considering equipping their soldiers or medics with it. He said it was approved for the management of severe bleeding by the Food and Drug Administration late last year and paramedics, fire and rescue squads, police and other emergency medical personnel have begun including in their equipment. Hospitals, SWAT units and bomb squads also are starting to stock it, he said.
It is sold under the trade name Traumadex for this indication. Ereth said he keeps the powder in his car and takes it everywhere he goes.
An over-the-counter formulation was approved in December for treating skin wounds, abrasions and nosebleeds, Cerza said. This formulation is called Bleed-X. The company plans to conduct further studies to assess the powder's potential for use in surgery to control bleeding, he said. It is approved for this use in Europe.
In the operating room, the powder could help control severe bleeding during heart and liver surgery as well as other procedures and reduce the need for blood transfusions, Ereth said. He predicted over the next few years "it will reduce the need for blood transfusions substantially."
Another advantage of the powder is it does not appear to cause allergic reactions as happens with some other blood-clotting products. One reason for this is the powder disappears within a matter of hours, Ereth said. It can degrade in as little as 30 minutes although remnants of it may remain in the clot for about a day.
"It's gone before you can even begin to have an allergic response to it," he said.
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(Reported by Steve Mitchell, UPI Medical Correspondent in Washington)
