Clotting Sponges

NO NO NO NO NO Do not use the QuickClot Sponge or anything with sponge in the name. QuickClot Advanced Clotting Sponge or ACS has horrible results for bleeding control.

As with tourniquets you must research beyond YouTube and Facebook. This is the original definitive study on Hemostatic Agents. Save it and make it bigger to read it. Basically Quick Clot ACS or the "Sponge" preformed, well . . . pretty much the worst in this study. It controlled bleeding for only about 15 minutes (over 2 hours for Combat Gauze) had poor survival rates and some of the highest bleeding loss after application. It just does not work. Yes they still sell it, yes it is cheaper than Gauze, yes now is almost the exact same packaging as Gauze (Cabelas, Bass Pro, etc.) but it just does not work as well as everyone thinks.

United States Army Institute of Surgical Research (USAISR) Hemostatic Agent Study

The three agents you need to choose from are Combat Gauze, Celox Gauze or Chito Gauze. Celox Granules did ok and are really the only non-gauze agent you should even consider.

HERE is a follow up study from the Naval Medical Research Unit (NAMRU)

Remember these products are for severe arterial bleeding not amenable to a tourniquet i.e. high femoral and high brachial injuries. They generally need direct pressure to work, so chest and belly wounds are not as successful.

With a patient on Coumadin or other blood thinning agent, bleeding control will be difficult as the platelets are already in a state of disfunction. You are trying to create a clot when the body and it's medicine is trying to not create a clot. The NAMRU study found more of an agent is generally better, for a patient on blood thinners, I would have two packs instead of one.

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Clotting Sponges