BAMBI (Balloon Against Maternal BleedIng) Device for stopping postpartum bleeding

History

2025: Product Announcement

In late September 2025, Italian researchers at the Technical University of Milan unveiled an inexpensive device to quickly stop postpartum bleeding. The novelty was called BAMBI, or Balloon Against Maternal BleedIng.

The idea of ​ ​ the project belongs to Alberto Zanini, a gynecologist and former head of the obstetrics and gynecology department of the Sacra Famiglia Hospital in Erbe (a commune in Italy). Working as a volunteer physician in various countries in Africa and Southeast Asia with high maternal mortality rates, he was personally convinced of the severity and prevalence of the problem of postpartum bleeding. To develop a new device, Zanini turned to Milan Polytechnic University for help. An interdisciplinary team of researchers worked on the creation of the product - specialists in the field of chemistry, materials science, mechanics and design.

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Фото: medicalxpress.com

The BAMBI kit includes a special probe, a cover for it, as well as a package with saline solution equipped with a clamp. The probe is inserted into the uterus in case of bleeding after delivery. Its shell is then filled with saline, becoming a balloon that stops bleeding from the inside.

The advantages of BAMBI are called cheapness, ease of assembly and use. In regions with a lack of funds and a weak health care system, it can be not only difficult, but also impossible to find qualified personnel to provide assistance to women in labor. Understandable text and video instructions have been created for the novelty. All the researchers involved in the development of the product decided to waive any rights to the invention in order to ensure its maximum availability in various regions around the world.^[1]

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