Polyvinyl alcohol/sodium alginate composite sponge with 3D ordered/disordered porous structure for rapidly controlling noncompressible hemorrhage

It is still a challenge to develop a sponge that can efficiently control noncompressible bleeding to meet the emergency treatment and clinical demand. Herein, we combined the 3D printing sacrificial template method and freeze-drying technology to prepare polyvinyl alcohol/sodium alginate (PVA/SA) composite sponges with ordered microchannels and disordered porous structure. Compared with conventional sponges, the prepared sponge showed ultra-rapid water/blood absorption capacity and satisfactory mechanical properties. Furthermore, when the sponge was stuffed into a noncompressible wound and contacted with blood, it could accurately guide and quickly absorb a large amount of blood through the microchannels. Moreover, the platelets, red blood cells and coagulation factors would be enriched in the microchannels and microporous structure. In the SD rat liver noncompressible hemorrhage and femoral artery puncture injury model, PVA-SA composite sponge with 3D ordered/disordered porous structure showed enhanced hemostatic performance compared with commercial MPVA sponges. Depend on the special ordered/disordered porous structure, PVA-SA composite sponge could accelerate the blood convergence and promote coagulation. This design of special porous structure opened up a new avenue to develop hemostatic sponges for rapidly controlling noncompressible hemorrhage.