In one scene in Serenity, a doctor squirts a bandage onto a wounded character’s back using a hot glue gun-like device, sealing the wound. But what about bandages that you can inject into someone to stop internal bleeding?
The US Department of Defense’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency awarded Arsenal Medical a $15.5 million grant in December as part of its Wound Stasis program. Arsenal Medical is developing a technology that would serve as the first ever method for slowing internal bleeding on battlefields. Currently, internal bleeding cannot be halted using conventional methods, in that field medics cannot tourniquet a whole abdomen or chest, and the chances of surviving a trip from the field to a medical facility with internal abdominal injuries and internal hemorrhaging are quite slim.
The technology is delivered to the injury via two liquid phase injections into the abdominal cavity. The injections are through the belly button, which minimizes the chances of injecting into a major artery. Once combined in the abdominal cavity, the two liquids expand to thirty times their original volume and harden into a solid, conforming to the internal shape of the abdomen. The hardened foam then puts enough pressure on the injury site to reduce blood loss sixfold before a surgeon removes the block of foam and implements a more permanent solution to the wounds.
The difficulty in developing this foam technology lies in finding mixtures that would develop the proper properties to apply pressure to a wound. The foam cannot solidify before it has expanded sufficiently, nor can it take too long to form. It must be of the right hardness to apply pressure to bleeding, and it must be easily removable without damaging any organs. Arsenal Medical tested 1200 foams, finding 15 that met regulations for animal testing, but only one polyurethane foam that expanded correctly and did not mix with blood, but instead pushes it back towards the site of bleeding.
Preliminary but promising test results were presented at the 2012 meeting of the American Association of the Surgery of Trauma in Kauai, Hawaii. The livers and large veins in pigs were cut, and then the foam was injected to stem bleeding. 72% of the injured pigs were still alive after three hours, compared to 8% without the foam. Afterwards, surgeons were able to remove the foam in sixty seconds.
The long-term effects of the technology after the foam is removed is still being studied. Arsenal Medical will be working with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to have their technology approved for use in the field.
Sean Maher not included.
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