Chitosan bandages

[jedimaster]

I was reading a National Geographic an article about technical advances thanks(?) to the war industry. There was an article about a product called chitosan, which helps to stop the bleeding from deep wounds in matter of seconds. My wife contact them and ask if this would help people on dialysis to stop the bleeding after the treatment is done. They answered back saying that YES...it can be used to stop the bleeding after treatment faster (30 seconds). That means for me to cut my waiting time, after 4 hours of treatment, from 10 minutes to 1 minute. I will give it a try and report back.
I already use blotters and that helped me to cut the time from 20 minutes (10 per hole) to 10....I really hope to cut again from 10 to 1.....I will let you know.

[Dr. Evil]

What is the cost?

Not sure how this would help exactly, as there is no open wound really....

Is it even on the market?

[jedimaster]

My idea is to reduce the time after dialysis, when the patient has to hold each site  for about 10 to 15 minutes. In my case...after 4 hours, the last thing I want to do is add another half hour to hold the site where the needles were to stop the bleeding. If I can reduce it to 2 minutes total, then at least I feel that the whole treatment, from beginning to end is shortened.
The cost still don't know...one step at the time. Blooters are about $4.00 for 10 strips, and I use one strip for 2 treatments. I got the sample...and it is recommended for hemodialysis patients, it says in the packaging....
The main use, of course is for heavy bleeding...but my access site, small and puny, bleeds lots if I don't apply pressure after removing the needles.
I see that there is no medical value on it, but reducing the prep time and the after dialysis time, to me makes a difference...

[Bajanne]

I would love to find out about a bandage that reduces that waiting time after having done 4 hours.  What I don't like is that I never seem to figure it in when I am thinking of the time I spend at dialysis.  People ask "how long are you at dialysis", and I swiftly say "4 hours", not counting the waiting time to even get on the machine, the actual time to prep the machine for me, and then the time to wait, holding a bandage (and I get into trouble whenever I try to hold both at the same time!)

[PMP]

Jedimaster,

Anxious to hear about your experience with the Chitosan bandage.  After learning about SureSeal bandages here, I encouraged my father (who is the one on dialysis, not me) to ask about them at his dialysis center.  They aren't keen on them for him, at least, because he has a graft, and using SureSeal could cause him problems, resulting in a trip to the hospital, so they say.  So he's spending half an hour post-dialysis waiting for the bleeding to stop.   What a PITA.

Pat

[jedimaster]

Tuesday I have my monthly clinic and I'll get the doctor's approval. I do have the sample. Reality is that they care about blood test results...i don't think they understand that any time not prepping, cleaning or doing dialysis for us is gold. Promise to keep everybody posted....

[jedimaster]

OK
I used the Chitosan bandage after getting my Doctor's approval. I have been using it for 20 days (thanks to a sample sent to me by the manufacturer), and this is the report I give back to our community

1. Chitosan reduced the "holding the site" time to 3 minutes (from usually 10 minutes). Compared with Blotters it saves 2 minutes per site.
2. Chitosan has an antibacterial mix, which gave me some sort of peace of mind when finished dialysis
3. It gets "hard", which is annoying, when you are peeling it off. Not a big deal, but Blotters don't do that.
4. It is NOT affordable at this moment. A $35.00 piece of Chitosan can be cut into small half an inch squares and lasts for about 20 days...that makes it expensive to my pocket, compared to Blotters which are only $4.00 for 20 days.

I am grateful to the Company who manufactures this as they gave me a chance to try it for hemodialysis. I reported back to them my experience in hopes that this can be improved in the future.

[jasperkat]

Okay I have to ask.  What are "blotters".  My husband uses Gelfoam if the bleeding doesn't stop in a timely manner.  Usually take 15 minutes before he is ready to leave.

[jasperkat]

Where did you order the Chitosan Bandages from?   I went on the internet and found info but not the distributor or manufacturer.  I have Wegman's Pharmacy searching too.  This would be wonderful.

[jedimaster]

Chitosan is not available at any pharmacy, it is meant to stop FAST heavy bleeding for the Army. Most soldiers die because of bleeding not because of the injures. I contacted the manufacturer and together we agree that i would use it for hemodialysis and report back to them .  Probably you can get some under the name Hem Con Bandages. The most important issue is price...they are expensive.
Blotters you will find under Seal-ON Bandages. (www.seal-on.com). Blotters is one of many presentations they have for the same product and is VERY affordable. I have been using Blotters which are strip like squares that I use when holding the site. Next week I will try their Bandage presentation and see what happens. i will keep you posted.
I know that saving 20 minutes after dialysis is a big deal...at least for me!!!!

[greg10]

Chitosan is not available at any pharmacy, it is meant to stop FAST heavy bleeding for the Army. Most soldiers die because of bleeding not because of the injures. I contacted the manufacturer and together we agree that i would use it for hemodialysis and report back to them .  Probably you can get some under the name Hem Con Bandages. The most important issue is price...they are expensive.
Blotters you will find under Seal-ON Bandages. (www.seal-on.com). Blotters is one of many presentations they have for the same product and is VERY affordable. I have been using Blotters which are strip like squares that I use when holding the site. Next week I will try their Bandage presentation and see what happens. i will keep you posted.
I know that saving 20 minutes after dialysis is a big deal...at least for me!!!!

I know this is an old thread, but this is the only thread on Chitosan in this forum and jedimaster has not reported back.  Has anyone have experience with this product that has anything to do with dialysis that they can share?  Thank you.

[Stoday]

If you ask, my unit applies an alginate dressing to speed up needle hole clotting. I've only used it once, because I normally clot in 2½ minutes.

[boswife]

im going to ask at my center but....... there is that 1/2 bandage thing they pit over the site just before pulling needles.. Theysaid it's a special 'thing' (dont know what they called it) that clots the blood fast.  I wonder since this IS 2010, that this is what ya were talking about in 2006 (didnt read all the posts) and is now the norm???

[greg10]

If you ask, my unit applies an alginate dressing to speed up needle hole clotting. I've only used it once, because I normally clot in 2½ minutes.

Thank you for the info and you are very fortunate.  You must have a good working fistula. Many struggles with alternating clotted accesses and nearly uncontrollable bleeding from the needle holes.

"there is that 1/2 bandage thing they pit over the site just before pulling needles"
I think you may be referring to the "super stoppers" by metro-pacifica and others which are 1" spheres non-woven bandages.

[boswife]

just a little side thing here, a little laugh i got ............. when i read this post of yours greg10 { "there is that 1/2 bandage thing they pit over the site just before pulling needles" } i thought, opps, he misspelled pit, i bet he ment 'put'...lol     well, untill i realized ya just Quoted ME..  made me laugh...thats always a good thing 

oh, and! im guessing your right about the super stopers too.

[greg10]

.. i thought, opps, he misspelled pit, i bet he ment 'put'...lol     well, untill i realized ya just Quoted ME..  made me laugh...thats always a good thing  ..

  That's funny.  I guess we all type too fast sometimes.
It appears that chitosan is available over the counter now, something like Celox:
http://www.amazon.com/CELOX-Temporary-Traumatic-Treatment-10-Pack/dp/B0032UY9BQ

It claims that it will "quickly clots blood containing heparin, coumadin, wafarin".  How safe and effective is it for dialysis needle holes, that is what we would like to know...

jedimaster, C'mon back! 

[RightSide]

At my center, I've asked about these kinds of bandages, and about other substances that stop bleeding quickly. 

What I was told is that any compound that can stop bleeding quickly, also carries with it a greater risk of introducing clots into my fistula.  So that was that.

For me, a better solution was just to reduce my heparin dose, and substitute extra saline flushes during the dialysis session.

[boswife]

That sounds good to me RightSide..  This makes me wonder  how long does it take for hubby to clot..  At the center, now that he's started his buttonholes, seems like its really fast and that i thought it would take longer not shorter.  Something else he's now starting is to hold his accesses with his fingers not the clamps.. But thats another story :-)

[Riki]

at my center, we have gelfoam, which some use all the time, but I only use them if I bleed, there's sure seals, which I love, cuz they look like regular bandaids and don't have a huge adhesive area.  I have incredibly sensitive skin, so the less adhesive on it, the better.  We also have these big, white bandages with an absorbant pad.  From what I can tell from the label, it's Italian.  They're called Sovan.  I took those to NY with me, and they were fascinated by them.  They'd never seen them before.

I still have to hold for 15 minutes, but I know I"m not anemic and clot well, as I've clotted the dialyzer a few times.

[Bruno]

"and I swiftly say "4 hours", not counting the waiting time to even get on the machine, the actual time to prep the machine for me, and then the time to wait, holding a bandage..."
So true, Bajanne, so true.
It's my experience that if you use sharps you need longer to stop the bleeding and with blunts it's around 10 minutes. But I'd need to be very sure that I'm not leaping from the frying pan into the fire. Any likelihood that the product might cause clots would make me very nervous about saving a few minutes in pressure time.

[RenalSurvivorDotCA]

Wow, those Chitosan bandages sure are expensive!

Our unit uses two types: the SureSeal pressure bandage and the TipStop medicated bandage.

I tried googling for the TipStops but couldn't find a pic.

Here's a pic I took with my phone:

The pad that covers the needle hole is medicated with clotting agents. They work really well.