QC Testimonial – Dr. Uribe

Ricardo Uribe M., MD
Centro de Urgencias y Trauma Hospital Militar
Bogota, Colombia

Surgeon Uses QuikClot to Control Post-operative Bleeding *

Dr. Uribe is a surgeon who frequently has to contend with excessive bleeding during and after surgical procedures. He had occasion to test the efficacy of QuikClot to control bleeding in two patients.

The first patient treated was 21 years old and had received a gunshot wound from an AK 47.  When he entered emergency services, he was in profound hypovolaemic shock.  The surgical team put a tube in the thorax that drained 1000 cc of blood from the wound. He was taken to surgery, where they performed a thoracotomy and  discovered severe damage to his left lung, multiple fractures and massive bleeding of the thoracic wall.

The left lung was removed. Given the condition of the patient, the surgical team decided to use QuikClot to control the bleeding. They then closed the thorax then moved the patient to the intensive care unit for continued resuscitation.

After 24-hours, the patient was returned to surgery to evaluate the state of hemostasis. The team found the hemorrhage had stopped. They washed the product out of the thoracic cavity and closed the incision.

“If we did not have this product the patient would have died during the operation or in the subsequent hours,” Dr. Uribe said.

The second patient was 27 years old and had had a Caesarian to deliver twins. The operation resulted in abundant uterine bleeding, and the gynecological team performed an abdominal hysterectomy to prevent hemorrhagic shock. They called upon the emergency surgical team for assistance, who used pelvic hypogastric packing to temporarily control the bleeding. Studies confirmed patient had Hell’s syndrome after the delivery, because of the high blood pressure, platelets consumption and alteration of hepatic tests.

The patient was taken to the intensive care unit where she continued to require intravenous liquids and blood transfusion. She was taken again to surgery where the surgical team found a grade IV hepatic outbreak with secondary hemorrhage and subcapular massive hematoma of the liver. The Pringle procedure was executed and hepatic packing was applied.

This still failed to stop the bleeding, so the team decided to apply QuikClot on the surface of the liver along with more hepatic packing. The patient was put in the intensive care unit. After 48 hours, the packing was removed and the team found that hemorrhage had been controlled.

“QuikClot stopped the bleeding where our previous efforts with conventional techniques had failed,” Dr. Uribe said.

* This testimonial describes an application of QuikClot that has not been approved by the U.S. FDA.

Supplied to Best Glide A.S.E. by Z-Medica, L.L.C.