Chitosan Gastrointestinal Hemostatic Dressing

? DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Non-variceal upper gastrointestinal bleeding (NVUGIB) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Incidence of NVUGIB in the US is 53 events per 100,000 adults, with approximately 160,000 hospital admissions annually. US treatment and prevention of NVUGIB continues to be a major medical emergency, costing 550-900 million dollars every year. Failure in standard of care for NVUGIB results in mortality rates from 3-4% in the US. An improved hemostatic approach to NVUGIB will significantly reduce hemorrhage related morbidity and mortality with substantial follow-on benefits to patient comfort and reduced cost in hospital care. An ideal device would be nontoxic, provide immediate hemostasis, would not requiresignificant follow-up or removal, and allow low accuracy/acuity placement. This proposal addresses the development of such a device. To address serious NVUGIB, HemCon proposes to develop a chitosan gastrointestinal hemostatic dressing (CGHD) suitable for