Injectable polymer could stem battlefield injuries

Administered via injection, the polymer is claimed to find any unseen or internal injuries and starts working immediately.

The University said the new polymer - described in Science Translational Medicine - could become a first line of defence in a host of trauma scenarios.

It has been tested in rats, and the researchers said it could reach human trials in five years.

In the initial study with rats, 100 per cent of animals injected with PolySTAT survived a typically lethal injury to the femoral artery. Only 20 per cent of rats treated with a natural protein that helps blood clot survived.

“Most of the patients who die from bleeding die quickly,” said co-author Dr. Nathan White, an assistant professor of emergency medicine who teamed with UW bioengineers and chemical engineers to develop the macromolecule. “This is something you could potentially put in a syringe inside a backpack and give right away to reduce blood loss and keep people alive long enough to make it to medical care.”