"Scientists say they have made a synthetic blood-clotting agent that could help wounded troops and patients."
Scientists have discovered a way to create fake platelets which can reduce bleeding in half and last longer than real platelets from donors. This new discovery could be available very soon.
The creators of this interesting now discovery are James Bertram and Erin Lavik. Using biodegradable polymers, they were able to design them so they link up with patients' own platelets. They hope this sort of thing can help the soldiers who get injured during war.
These new fake platelets have many advantages. First, they do not create the complications taht come with donated platelets, like rejection. Second, they also should have a longer shelf life than the donated ones, which is only five days.
Hopefully they do get this up and running soon. This could help injured soldiers recover and return home safely.
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11 comments:
I'd like to know the other half of the story. What are the disadvantages? I don't imagine that synthetic platelets could actually help a guy with anything larger than a gash... Couldn't this be bad too cause it could block the flow of blood? considering that its not natural to the body?
Just wondering. ;)
I agree with Lily, if this synthetic blood-clotting agent comes with little to no side-effects or downsides, then I am obviously for it. This seems like it is on its way to becoming a very helpful tool for the war. It also seems that this could be used domestically to help aid with blood loss. We have issues with the blood donors in any transplant, and if we could find a universal agent that would be amazing. So if this works it would be amazing, but it seems that the article just says the pros to the agent, and glazes over the cons. Before we make our true opinions, we must do our research.
-Jane Hayashi-
This is great!
I do agree that discovering side effects and such is important, but I feel that instead of being skeptical about it we should be happy that such an invention has come to fruition.
This could work wonders and truly become an instrumental piece of health care.
Ohhh I had an appointment with my doctor and yes there are side effects. I used to have ITP (which is like hemophilia)and was asked to be part of this statistcs project to see what genes in my body are turned on and off so that scientists can research if its hereditary. I am not sure if its the exact "fake blood clotting product" he told me about but similar because it raises the platelet counts. The down side was that the person would have to take it all the time, consistantly. I don't remember them from the top of my head but they are things like diarrhea, stomach ache, etc.
-emily Niemann
It's great to hear that scientists have developed this, but I have a question. Have they tested this on humans? Although proved successful during rat testing, the results could easily change in humans. Honestly, I'm a bit skeptical about these fake blood-clotting products. Although useful for on the spot treatments, these fake blood-clotting products may have some long term effects that have not yet been discovered.
This seems like the year for breakthroughs in health care and medicine. The health care reform debate, synthetic platelets and, my personal favorite, the Deka Arm
It's wonderful to hear that this has been created. This synthetic blood-cloting agent will be very helpful in the future because it can reduce the number of deaths in troops and patients. However, there must be disadvantages to this so we need to test it out before they release it.
I agree with Ariana, we should really make sure that these products work on not only rodents but humans as well. I researched a little more on the fake blood clotting and the article said "that any surplus platelets not needed for the clotting should be flushed out of the body with no ill effects" so that's a pretty good sign.
I think this "fake blood-clotting product" will be very useful if it works properly without any real dangerous side effects. I think it should be completely tested properly before giving it to the soldiers to use. I think this is a great start!!
I agree with Lily. I want to know what exactly the side-effects/disadvantages are. Also, I've heard that in the army, sometimes they use super glue to quickly seal a wound. Does anyone know if that is true?
There is always side affects to things that sound helpfull. I that if they find enough donors many people who get injured in the battlefield will be able to survive. As long as they are able to reach to the hospital alive thats still something good. A bad thing is that like it states in the article that it only cures small wounds not internal but yet its something hopefully they use.
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