If you read Jon Wayne Taylor’s excellent series on gunshot wound first aid, you’ll probably remember rule number one of dealing with a hole: squeeze, squeeze, squeeze until the red blood stops. There is no substitute for pressure in stopping leakage. And while a tourniquet is usually the best way to stanch the flow, depending on the wound location, sometimes a tourniquet isn’t an option. Toward that end, RevMedx has developed a wound-plugging syringe, the Xstat, that’s meant to stop a thigh bleed kinda like you’d plug a hole in your tire . . .
The syringe works by injecting small, expandable cellulose sponges into wounds that can’t be stopped from bleeding with the use of a tourniquet (e.g. wounds in the groin or armpit). The sponges expand on contact with blood in just 20 seconds, blocking its flow out of the body. Each applicator absorbs up to a pint of blood and up to three syringes can be used on a single patient.
The Xstat has just been approved by the FDA for civilian use. No word on cost yet, but this would seem to be a worthy addition to your blowout bag along with a SOF tourniquet, some quick clot and a hell of a lot of gauze.