Ground-Breaking Syringe Design Could Save Lives In Killer Quake

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) – A product of the battlefield, a new high-tech syringe has the potential to save lives in mass casualty situations like a major earthquake.

Retired Special Forces medic John Steinbaugh helped design the syringe along with his colleagues when dealing with wounded soldiers on the battlefield.

"It's very frustrating (treating soldiers in combat)," he told KPIX 5 via Skype. "Seconds seem like hours on the battlefield."

It can take several crucial minutes to pack a wound and stop the bleeding.

The result of their innovation is the XSTAT syringe – a first-of-its-kind device now being produced in Oregon for commercial use.

"Within 15 seconds, the bleeding stops (using syringe)," he said. "It's a syringe filled with 92 mini-sponges coated with a blood-clotting chemical."

When you inject the sponges into a gunshot, knife or shrapnel injury, the sponges expand 10 times their size pushing against the walls of the wound, so the bleeding stops.

You don't even need to apply pressure with your hands. The sponges do it for you in seconds.

"They're putting pressure on the sides of the wound cavity and they're squeezing the artery shut," Steinbaugh said.

The FDA approved the tool for civilian use last December.

KPIX 5 showed the device to Dr. Malini Singh, who sees some of the city's worst trauma victims at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital.

She says XSTAT could help in mass casualties.

"Blood control early at the scene and at arrival to our emergency department is crucial to the life of the patient," she said.
But since the syringe costs several hundreds of dollars each, Singh said the hospital would have to balance the cost with the benefit.

"It would have to show a relatively favorable benefit-cost ration for us to entertain using it," she said.

While the device was designed for deep, narrow wounds, it's not as effective for larger injuries.

But some hospitals and paramedics around the country are giving it a shot, hoping it will help them save lives.