Haemostatic Patch for Enhanced Wound Care
Opportunity
The conventional method of dealing with bleeding is to press the wound with a cotton gauze. The gauze absorbs blood, which causes unnecessary blood loss, and allows a solid clot-gauze composite to form. This causes the gauze to adhere to the wound. Forced peeling of this often tears the wound and causes secondary bleeding and pain. Whether in wound care or surgery, this makes it difficult to replace the old wound dressing without causing secondary infections or haemorrhage.
New approaches involve the use of superhydrophobic or superhydrophilic materials. A superhydrophilic material (graphene sponge) is able to quickly absorb water from the blood and promote coagulation. A superhydrophobic coating can be applied on the back of a superhydrophilic gauze to prevent blood loss through the gauze. However, these approaches are still either based on a blood-absorbing haemostatic material (superhydrophilic) that does not minimise blood loss and secondary bleeding, or a blood-repelling material (superhaemophobic) that does not actively trigger clotting. The ability to address these key challenges offers opportunity for greater growth in the global wound care market, which was valued close to US$20 billion in 2019 and is projected to reach US$25 billion by 2024 based on a CAGR of 4.6%.
Technology
This technology relates to a method to prepare a haemostatic coating material and a corresponding haemostatic medical patch that can simultaneously achieve four key benefits in wound care: fast clotting, clotting without blood loss, clot self-detachment and minimal bacteria adhesion.
The coating material is made of clot-inducing components immobilised on a surface such as a cotton gauze or dressing by another hydrophobic polymer matrix through spray coating. The coating is superhydrophobic due to the use of hydrophobic base components and the micro/nano-rough topography that comes from spray coating. This is applied to a medical patch to create a haemostatic patch that is able to repel blood fluid to prevent blood loss through its superhydrophobic properties. The clot-inducing components trigger the fast formation of fibrin fibers, which is necessary for clotting, and the patch is anti-bacterial as adhesion tests have proven that bacteria cannot attach well on this surface. After clotting, the patch is also easy to detach as it does not absorb blood — once the clot solidifies, it naturally separates from the wound.
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