Blood Substitute Breakthrough
Published: January 9, 2005
Every year, thousands of accident and trauma victims will bleed to death on the way to the emergency room.
There’s a new solution that could change that for people across the country.
A ride in an ambulance is not the kind of ride anyone expects to take.
But thousand a year will have to take it.
“Primarily, what we’ll see for trauma patients are car accidents, folks who have fallen a great distance, victims of violent shootings, stabbings, assaults,” says Paramedic Devin Price.
He gives trauma patients saline intravenously when he gets to the scene. That helps raise the blood pressure.
“Unfortunately, with normal saline, it doesn’t replace blood volume and doesn’t transport oxygen,” he says.
Two elements that are vital for survival. Now, this new blood substitute called Polyheme POL-i-heem can offer that. Dr. David Hoyt explains Polyheme as blood that’s been purified to its simplest form.
“Because it has hemoglobin in it, it allows hemoglobin to carry oxygen, just like your own blood does,” says Dr. Hoyt.
Polyheme is currently under study. Since trauma patients can’t give consent on the scene, people living where the trial takes place have the opportunity to wear a wristband that excludes them from participating.
“This current product does not seem to have any risk at all, and it’s been studied in over hundreds of patients, so we think it’s a very safe product,” Dr. Hoyt says.
It’s also effective. In a study of 200 patients, 75-percent who received polyheme survived at least 30 days compared to just 35-percent of patients who didn’t get it.
“I’ve only given it once so far. It was great. It had tremendous impact upon the patient’s outcome,” says Price.
Experts say Polyheme could save about 10-thousand lives each year. And that, after all, IS the goal of emergency care.
Because Polyheme is a blood product purified to its simple form, there’s no need to worry about blood types.
It’s universal and works for people of all blood types.
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