Demystifying Topical Hemostatic Agents: A Mental Model for Surgeons

The scrub tech holds up two boxes, “SURGICEL or EVARREST?”, and you realize nobody ever taught you the difference. Patrick Georgoff, MD, John McClellan, MD, Kevin Kniery, MD, and Nick Teman, MD, break down topical hemostatic agents, one of the most used and least taught tools in the OR. You’ll get a simple two-question model for picking the right product: can your patient make their own clot, and can a patch reach the bleeding? Through trauma, vascular, and cardiac cases, the team covers when these agents earn their keep and when two minutes of pressure (no peeking!) will do the job. Bottom line: hemostatic agents speed up hemostasis, but they’re a targeted adjunct to good surgical technique, not a substitute for it!

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Topical Hemostatic Agent PDF link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Qv9V_0l20CTXKQ_83newveIahmxzlpcb/view?usp=sharing

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