Emerging materials for hemostasis

Severe hemorrhage has posed a serious threat to the health and even life of civilian and military populations and brought serious economic losses. Consequently, it is imperative to develop effective hemostatic materials and strategies. However, numerous hemostatic agents are unable to perfectly meet the requirements of ideal hemostatic agents, and hence strenuous efforts need to be made to develop safe and efficacious hemostatic materials. Recently, the booming achievements have been witnessed in the hemostatic material field. In this review, the general coagulation process, the hemostatic mechanisms, and the design strategies of hemostatic materials are briefly discussed. Subsequently, we introduce the latest investigations on the various external (local) hemostatic materials and internal (intravenous) hemostatic agents including external inorganic hemostatic materials, peptides/proteins with hemostatic activity, polysaccharide hemostats, synthetic hemostatic polymers, and intravenous hemostatic technologies, and summarize the preparation methods, the physical, chemical, and biological properties, and the hemostatic applications of these different materials. This review also briefly discusses some major problems and challenges in the research of various hemostatic materials, hoping to provide valuable insights for the development of new hemostatic materials.