HALO Chest Seal

At a recent Live Tissue class we attended we were introduced to a new chest seal called the HALO.

The HALO is like nothing we’ve ever used before… It actually sticks!

All the other chest seals we’ve used on the market today like the Asherman, Bolin and Hyfin don’t hold a seal when it comes to excessive blood or even heavy perspiration.

The HALO Seal is manufactured by PMI and features the most aggressive hydrophilic medical gel on the market today. Update 9/1/10: New packaging is out that adds a ziploc style closure to allow you to reseal the second seal if unused.

It comes in two different versions, the HALO Dressing, which comes two per pack, and the HALO Vent which has a valve in center of dressing that can manage the pleural cavity by allowing air to escape. (The HALO Vent has one vented dressing and one non-vented dressing per package) HALO Vent is no longer being produced.

We’re partial to the dressing version for use as a chest seal and tend to lean towards the school of thought that any penetrating chest wound should be completely sealed.

Some may disagree as this presents the development of a Tension Pneumothorax, however a tension takes some time to develop, and decompression with a needle will take care of that problem quickly and easily should it arise.

Benefits

• Excellent adhesion with excessive blood or heavy perspiration
• Can be used to occlude a chest tube by folding in half twice and cutting a hole in the corner and slide over chest tube
• Large pull tab for easy removal
• Can be used to hold other dressings in place
• Durable and protective packaging
• Foam backing will enable the dressing to conform and hold to the patient’s body
• 2 per package
• Has been tested and designed to perform under extreme conditions with temperature ranges below 32F to over 140F
• Less expensive than other chest seals

These have replaced all the chest seals that we carry in our Blow Out Kits, Trauma bags and Aid bags. It is also what we include in our ETA Kit.