Using self-propelled particles that swim “upstream” against the flow of blood, Faculty of Medicine researchers have stopped massive internal blood loss — a potentially huge advancement in trauma care.
“Bleeding is the number one killer of young people, and maternal death from postpartum hemorrhage can be as high as one in 50 births in low resource settings so these are extreme problems,” says Christian Kastrup, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and the Michael Smith Laboratories.
Traditional methods of halting severe bleeding are not very effective when the blood loss originates inside the body like the uterus, sinus or abdomen.
Dr. Kastrup, working with a group of researchers, biochemical engineers and emergency physicians, developed calcium carbonate particles that can be applied in powder form to stop critical bleeding. The particles, which carry a clotting agent called tranexamic acid, release carbon dioxide gas, like antacid tablets, to propel them toward the source of bleeding.
As the researchers reported today in the journal Science Advances, the particles were highly effective in stopping bleeding in animal models of catastrophic events — including a simulation of a gunshot wound to the femoral artery.
“People have developed hundreds of agents that can clot blood but the issue is that it’s hard to push these therapies against severe blood flow, especially far enough upstream to reach the leaking vessels. Here, for the first time, we’ve come up with an agent that can do that,” Dr. Kastrup said.
While much more rigorous testing and development is needed to bring the agent to market, the particles could have a wide range of uses, from sinus operations to treating combat wounds.
“The area we’re really focusing on is postpartum hemorrhage: in the uterus, after childbirth where you can’t see the damaged vessels but you can put the powder into that area and the particles can propel and find those damaged vessels,” Dr. Kastrup says.
The research was initially funded by UBC and a “Rising Stars” grant from Grand Challenges Canada. Collaborators included James Baylis, a Ph.D candidate in the Department of Biomedical Engineering; Lindsay Machan from the Department of Radiology; James Piret from the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering; Nathan White, a trauma specialist at the University of Washington in Seattle; and Thomas Burke, the Chief of the Division of Global Health and Human Rights at Massachusetts General Hospital.