Porous siloxane-based hydrophobic polyurethane sponges for hemostatic applications

Abstract

Uncontrollable bleeding resulting from severe trauma or war conflicts, such as visceral perforation and arterial rupture, is one of the leading causes of mortality among injured individuals. It also presents a critical challenge that must be urgently addressed to utilize the golden rescue time effectively and improve survival rates. Traditional hemostatic materials often exhibit weak mechanical properties, poor adhesion to wet tissues, and a lack of adaptability to wound shapes, particularly failing to achieve the desired hemostatic effect in moist and irregular tissue conditions. In this study, a novel material (PDMS-MDI-PCL) was synthesized using polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), polycaprolactone diol (PCL), and 4,4'-methylenebis(phenyl isocyanate) (MDI) as the raw material. By combining methacrylated gelatin (GelMA) and hemocoagulase (HC), a porous hemostatic material (HGPU) with shape recovery, multimodal application, red blood cell aggregation, and platelet activation capabilities was developed. This material can be flexibly applied according to the size and characteristics of the wound, and its hemostatic speed is significantly faster than that of commercially available gelatin sponges. When compressed cylindrical HGPU is inserted into narrow and deep bleeding sites in visceral tissues, it rapidly recovers its shape under moist conditions to seal the wound and apply pressure to the bleeding point. When thin sheets of HGPU are applied to arterial bleeding sites, they quickly wrap around the artery without interfering with arterial pulsation or blood flow. In conclusion, the compressible, shape-recoverable, and multimodally applicable HGPU demonstrates significant potential in managing lethal and uncontrollable bleeding scenarios.