There's something new in the world of medicine that could revolutionize the way we deal with internal bleeding. A team of engineers from MIT has created a two-component system that, injected into the body, can stop bleeding.
A discovery that could save countless lives, especially in emergency situations, when speed is of the essence.
Lucky partnership
The system, composed of nanoparticles and polymers, emulates the blood clotting process that occurs naturally in our body. The combination of these two elements has shown surprising results in animal studies, managing to stop internal bleeding much more effectively than current hemostatic methods.
The study, published in Advanced Healthcare Materials (I link it here), sees the collaboration of several MIT researchers "led" by Celestine Hong, lead author. Their goal was to develop an artificial system that could replace both platelets and fibrinogen, essential components in blood clotting.
How does the internal bleeding system work?
The team created a system composed of two types of materials: a nanoparticle that “recruits” platelets and a polymer that mimics fibrinogen. These components, once injected into the body, accumulate at the bleeding site and interact with each other, forming clots that stop internal bleeding.
The scientists tested the system on mice, demonstrating that the nanoparticle-polymer treatment was highly effective, with two major benefits. First, Artificially formed clots do not break down as quickly as natural ones—especially helpful when patients are losing a lot of blood and receiving intravenous saline to maintain blood pressure (which can dilute platelets). Second, the substance does not produce immune reactions.
The next steps
In the longer term, the researchers hope to explore the possibility of using portable imaging devices to visualize these injected nanoparticles once they enter the body.
This could help doctors and rescuers quickly detect internal bleeding, which today can only be identified in hospital through MRI, ultrasound or surgery.
Upcoming tests in larger animal models will refine this promising technology.
