Medical Advances Being Developed On the Front Lines

A revolutionary foam has been developed to help stop internal bleeding.  The developers of the foam, who believe it may save lives on the front lines, have received funds from the U.S. military to continue developing the product.

Researchers have been working on a medical foam which would limit the amount of internal bleeding once injected into the body. The foam is comprised of two separate liquids which, when injected, mix together, expand and harden to become a kind of internal wound dressing.  The technology, still in its infancy, would help save the lives of wounded soldiers far from medical facilities by slowing or staunching blood loss. Currently, there is no way to stop or slow the internal bleeding in the chest and abdomen prior to in-hospital care.

The polyurethane polymer foam mix is expected to control internal hemorrhaging for at least one hour and possibly longer, researchers say. The foam is designed to be easily removed by surgeons as a solid mass. Abdominal injuries are considered especially dangerous, as the best methods for treatment at this time to stop blood loss is with compression pads and tourniquets.

The foam mix was presented to the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma annual meeting in Hawaii earlier this year. The study on the foam use estimated an increase in survival rates for liver injuries from 8 percent to 72 percent and a dramatic reduction in blood loss for more than three hours. The foam may be used in as many as 50 percent of battlefield wounds currently seen, either to control hemorrhaging far from medical care or to manage care when facing multiple injuries, such as head injury and major internal bleeding.

The product has yet to be approved by the Federal Drug Administration. It still needs extensive testing to ensure it is safe and effective, and a plan for staff training on use must be developed, researchers caution. Polyurethane foam is widely used for thermal insulation and inside refrigerators.

A loss of blood has long been a major cause of death in war, but battlefields have also been the place where many medical inventions were developed, due to necessity. Though ligatures had been used by Arabs and the Romans in ancient times, the practice had been dropped. It wasn't until the 1600s when during the Siege of Turin, someone "reinvented" the us of ligatures to stop bleeding arteries. Previously, most battlefield wounds were treated with cauterization and boiling oil.  

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20693705