Battlefield injuries require a quick response and good equipment. Unfortunately, injuries may be too severe or difficult to treat with common bandage and clotting agent options. When seconds count, every advantage is worth the effort. Luckily, some biomedical engineering students have been putting in that effort.
A team of students at Johns Hopkins University have devised a method of stopping heavy bleeding, the type that might be encountered in battlefield injuries from bullets or shrapnel or even in civilian trauma cases. As reported by JHU , the traditional method of tourniquets and gauze are largely ineffective at stabilizing junctional wounds. Junctional wounds are those that occur where limbs or the head connect to the torso
The team of eight undergrads decided to take a different approach using a two-part polymer injection. The polymer is contained within a handheld applicator that mixes and dispenses the two into the wound where they react and harden. The polymer, a polyurethane foam, then blocks the flow of blood out of the wound.
If the thought of having something akin to a seat cushion injected into your body is a little unsettling, keep in mind the alternative, which is to continue bleeding profusely. Initial tests using simulated conditions of gel (flesh) and tubes (blood vessels) showed the treatment to be effective. While there remains much work to be done on refining the materials and mechanisms to get medical approval, the concept is promising.
Some of the criteria the group wanted to address included ease of use and transportability. This device is meant as a stopgap measure to get the person to proper medical care (where the foam would then be removed) and it won’t be a surgeon applying the treatment. The team wanted it to be easy, even in inhospitable conditions. The materials can also be carried relatively easily on a person and are stable under most conditions.
This is not the first foray into foam treatment for bleeding, as DARPA has investigated the use for abdominal injuries. The group has put their education to work and come up with some new extensions. Although the project has been approved for animal trials, the students have now graduated and the work will be coordinated with their faculty advisers and medical sponsors for future advancements.
Below is a video featuring the team leader, Sydney Rooney, describing their work.
Photo courtesy of JHU.