Applying pressure, creating a tourniquet, and utilizing bandages are all things done to help reduce blood flow from a cut or a wound. However, what if something else could be done to help reduce the flow of blood? This would be help to reduce the number of serious injuries that result from that cut or wound and also help minimize the number of transfusions needed due to blood loss.
Chirag Gajjar, a doctoral student at North Carolina State University, and his team are working on developing an alternative. They have discovered that glass fiber is an excellent material to slow blood flow. However, it is not something that can be used, as it could cause damage to the body. The next step was to develop something very similar. And they did, tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS).
When fabric is treated with TEOS, the time it took plasma to reduce clotting decreased by 25 – 30 seconds. This means that TEOS could potentially heal and close up a wound faster and save more lives! While he and his team are still experimenting, it is exciting to know that methods are being tested and created to help save more lives, especially in times when blood is not always available.