Hemorrhage Control for Non-Compressible Extremity Injuries

A significant number of battlefield deaths could be prevented through the development of devices and techniques suitable for application in the field as temporary measures for immediate treatment. It is known that a significant portion of battlefield fatalities occur because soldiers suffer uncontrolled hemorrhage from wounds inflicted on their proximal extremities, where it is often not possible to apply standard first aid methods such as the tourniquet. Payload Systems Inc. is approaching the solution of this problem by developing a device that could be inserted into a wound of the nature described above to slow or stop bleeding sufficiently long that the injured person can be transferred to a facility able to treat the injury appropriately. This device would swell inside the wound, by absorbing the water component of the blood, and adapt to the cavity while applying a controlled amount of pressure on its walls. In addition to the mechanical application of pressure, blood clotting would be enhanced by the dehydration of blood cells and concentration of clotting factors to stop or slow bleeding in injury sites that are difficult to treat with traditional methods.