Why Chitosan-Based Hemostatic Agents Are Redefining Bleeding Control Across Modern Healthcare

Insights from the Latest CELOX & OMNI‑STAT White Paper by Dr. Andrew Dennis

Uncontrolled bleeding remains one of the most critical and time‑sensitive trauma and acute care. Despite major advancements in surgical techniques, transfusion strategies, and trauma systems, hemorrhage continues to be a leading cause of preventable death following injury.

A newly released white paper by Dr. Andrew Dennis – Trauma Surgeon, Professor of Surgery, and a leading expert in pre-hospital and resuscitative traumatology – offers an in‑depth look at where current approaches fall short and why chitosan‑based temporary topical hemostatic agents (CELOX® and OMNI‑STAT®) represent a needed shift in bleeding control across the full continuum of care.

Below is a digestible overview of the key findings, innovations, and clinical value outlined in his comprehensive analysis.

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The Challenge: A Gap in Hospital Hemorrhage Control

Internal absorbable hemostatic agents have become widely used in hospitals—but not always appropriately. While effective in controlled surgical settings, they:

• Are expensive, often costing hundreds to thousands per unit
• Depend on host physiology and the clotting cascade to function
• Are unproven in coagulopathic, hypothermic, or anticoagulated patients
• Are frequently misused in emergency, ICU, and procedural settings

This creates a costly mismatch between available tools and real-world clinical needs.

Temporary topical chitosan-based agents fill this gap. They deliver rapid, reliable hemorrhage control with broad applicability, low cost, and independence from the coagulation system.

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Why Chitosan? A Mechanism Built for Real-World Trauma

CELOX and OMNI‑STAT – both built-on chitosan technology – work differently from kaolin or factor-dependent agents.

Chitosan is a positively charged organic polymer that interacts directly with red blood cells to form a durable gel-like clot. Unlike some other hemostatic technologies, this process does not rely on the body’s clotting cascade.
This means reliable performance in patients who are:

• Receiving anticoagulant therapy
• Experiencing trauma-induced coagulopathy
• Hypothermic or physiologically unstable

Clinical and experimental findings show that rapid hemostasis occurs in approximately 60 seconds, providing a critical advantage in trauma bays, ICUs, and pre‑hospital settings.

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Proven Across the Continuum of Care

With over 20 years of military deployment and CoTCCC recognition, CELOX has repeatedly demonstrated high survival signals in both animal and human studies, reduced blood loss, superior performance in penetrating trauma, and meaningful time‑to‑application advantages in care‑under‑fire environments.

In the Emergency Department and Trauma Bays, CELOX is ideal for managing penetrating trauma, junctional bleeding, and large surface injuries, and it is particularly effective for patients who arrive coagulopathic or anticoagulated.

In the ICU and during vascular access management, CELOX Vascular pads provide fast, reliable control of arterial line bleeding, PICC and CVC oozing, ECMO cannula sites, and Impella access points, offering an efficient solution for managing persistent bleeding in these critical settings.

In Interventional Radiology and the Cath Lab, CELOX serves as a valuable adjunct for managing bleeding in challenging situations, offering effective support for anticoagulated patients, controlling persistent access‑site bleeding, and providing a reliable option when closure devices fail.

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Clinical and Operational Value

Beyond their clinical advantages, hospitals are increasingly recognizing the operational benefits of rapid bleeding control technologies. Faster hemostasis can reduce blood product utilization, decrease the frequency of dressing changes and associated nursing workload, support infection‑prevention efforts, and prevent the inappropriate use of costly surgical hemostatic products. Together, these efficiencies make topical hemostatic agents an appealing option for hospital value analysis committees seeking to align strong clinical outcomes with responsible cost management.

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A Clear Recommendation: The Universal Standard for Hemorrhage Control

Dr. Dennis’ conclusion is unequivocal:

CELOX and OMNI‑STAT should be the minimum universal standard for hospital-wide hemorrhage control.

These agents address a critical unmet need by offering superior clinical performance, reliability in physiologic extremis, operational efficiency, broad usability across hospital departments, and significant cost savings – all of which position them as highly effective, versatile solutions for modern hemorrhage control.

By integrating these products into existing trauma, emergency, and procedural pathways, hospitals can close a major gap in modern hemorrhage management -aligning practice with two decades of internationally validated evidence.

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Learn more

 

To explore the clinical evidence, mechanism of action, and real-world applications of chitosan-based hemostatic technologies, download the full white paper authored by Andrew Dennis, DO, FACS, FACOS: “CELOX / OMNI-STAT Chitosan-Based Hemostatic Agents: The Superior Standard for Bleeding Control: A Review.”

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Eloquest Healthcare is dedicated to advancing solutions that improve patient care while supporting the realities of modern healthcare delivery. Our portfolio of clinically proven products, including Mastisol®, Detachol®, SecurAcath®, SaniiSwab™, and OMNI-STAT®, is designed to help clinicians enhance outcomes, improve workflow efficiency, and reduce unnecessary healthcare costs.