Hemostasis for Severe Hemorrhage with Photocrosslinkable Chitosan Hydrogel and Calcium Alginate

In patients with severe hemorrhage, complications such as shock or death may occur if the patient is not treated appropriately and expeditiously. To create a hemostat kit for severe hemorrhage, ultraviolet light irradiation was applied to photocrosslinkable chitosan hydrogel and calcium alginate. As a hemorrhage model, the femoral arteries and veins of anesthetized rats were cut. Hemodynamics and hematological parameters including red blood cell (RBC) count, hemoglobin concentration, hematocrit, white blood cell (WBC) count, and platelet count, and serum parameters including aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) were measured as a marker of hemostasis. In rats for which no procedure was used, death occurred within 30 min. By using the hydrogel hemostat, the survival rate rose to 75% or more. RBC count, hemoglobin, hematocrit, and platelet levels were not significantly changed for 3 days. WBC count increased 1 day after hemostasis. AST and ALT increased 1 day after hemostasis, but it decreased 3 days later. The photocrosslinkable chitosan hydrogel and calcium alginate were biodegraded at 3 and 28 days, respectively, by neutrophils and keratinocyte chemoattractant.