An In Vitro Assessment of a Biopolymer-Based Medical Foam for Enhanced Antifibrinolytic and Infection Prophylaxis for...

Acute open wounds are susceptible to hemorrhage and infection if not treated quickly and effectively. Unfortunately, most primary wound care treatment strategies lack the ability to deliver therapeutics into the wound volume with temporal and spatial stability. Existing technologies generally only perform one function (i.e., reduce bleeding), forcing first responders to rely on a series of time-consuming prehospital treatments in resource-limited situations. To overcome these challenges, we developed and evaluated a vancomycin- and tranexamic acid-loaded biopolymer-based medical foam (MF) composed of carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC). The medical foam's physical characteristics, cytocompatibility, antifibrinolytic efficacy, and antimicrobial activity were evaluated to demonstrate in vitro feasibility and scientific validation data with experimentation. The MF exhibited rapid expansion (3.23× initial volume) and sustained structural stability (26.5 min) in vitro. When applied ex vivo, the foam significantly reduced bacterial load (>99%) and decreased blood loss by 87.5% compared to controls. These data support the foam's potential to spatially and temporally fill irregular wound cavities, stabilize clot formation, and provide infection prophylaxis in austere or resource-limited environments. Results demonstrated that the MF is both safe to human tissues in vitro and effective at delivering hemostatic and antibiotic agents topically.