It may not be something that will be needed in airsoft first aid (knock on wood).  But for the airsoft player who is in active military service, it is something to welcome since it will be an important life saving device when the worst thing happens while on a mission. That device should stop the bleeding from a gunshot wound, even temporarily, but giving enough time to stabilize a wounded person and bring him to the nearest medical facility for further treatment.

Gunshot wounds are the medic’s or the emergency personnel’s worst enemy and to prevent the victim from bleeding out is always a race. Applying pressure to wound and using lots gauze to stem the bleeding usually takes time and that time should have been spent on bringing the victim to the hospital.

Now, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, has finally approved the XSTAT 30 from RevMedx which is a sponge-filled device for plugging the gunshot wound to prevent further bleeding, for use on civilians. Originally approved for use in the battlefield in 2014, it can stop bleeding in 15 seconds. With that speed, the emergency personnel can quickly work on bringing the victim for treatment and recovery at a proper medical facility.

RevMedx of Wilsonville, Oregon, develop the XSTAT for quickly sealing gunshot wounds. The procedure looks and sounds simple. The device is designed like a syringe, filled with sponges that expand upon contact with blood when injected into the wound. Each sponge can absorb a pint of blood, eventually stopping the bleeding and also provide a surface for the blood to begin clotting.

The sponges are meant to be temporary like gauze, with up to four hours before a surgery and will have to be removed thus, they have markers that can spotted on x-ray.

The approval by the FDA doesn’t mean that it’s the first device of first recourse in an medical emergency involving a gunshot victim.  It will need to be used only it definitive care at a medical facility cannot be achieved within minutes in the thorax; the pleural cavity; the mediastinum; the abdomen; the retroperitoneal space; the sacral space above the inguinal ligament; or tissues above the clavicle. Or to put it simply, it should not be used in certain parts of the chest, abdomen, pelvis or tissue above the collarbone.

With mass shootings happening in the U.S. at a more frequent rate, the XSTAT 30 would become a valuable device for first responders rushing to give emergency treatment to gunshot victims.