Era of Bloodless Surgery: Spotlights on Hemostasic Materials and Techniques

Abstract

Hemostasis occurs when blood vessels are injured or ruptured and it is a series of responses for the body to stop bleeding without thrombus [1]. The rapid sequence of hemostatic processes can be divided into four steps and the whole sequence is shown in Fig. 1. Hemostasis is initiated with an arteriolar vasoconstriction process that the damaged blood vessels shrink to block blood from being spilled [2]. The second step after the arteriolar vasoconstriction is platelet aggregation and it is also called primary hemostasis. The third step is called secondary hemostasis or clot formation. The final step includes completed thrombus and antithrombotic events [3,4].