The Texas A&M Institute for Preclinical Studies received a $9.9 million grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to produce treatments for soldiers severely injured in battle and especially suffering from massive blood loss.
“Our aim is to develop something a soldier could hold in his or her backpack that could prevent massive blood loss,” said Dr. Matthew Miller, professor of veterinary cardiology, senior research scientist at the Institute and leader of the study.
More than half of theU.S. military who die in action do so because of blood loss sustained from a gunshot wound or improvised explosive devices.
Dr. Paul Carlton, former Air Force surgeon general and director to the Office of Homeland Security for The Texas A&M University System Health Science Center, said “the most critical intervention after a soldier is injured is the self-aid and buddy care administered in the field.”
This primary medical treatment serves to keep a soldier alive until they can reach salvage surgery in another location, Carlton said.
If a wounded soldier suffering from blood loss is treated within the first hour, the golden hour, of receiving his or her injury, he or she stands a higher chance of survival. The Institute aims to prolong the golden hour, so a wounded soldier has a higher chance of living.
“Medics may not be able to evacuate troops for four to six hours and so what we’re trying to find is a way that we can preserve their life for an extended period of time to give medics extra time to evacuate a wounded soldier for treatment,” Miller said. “[The] classical way to save someone suffering from blood loss is to stop the bleeding and give them fluids.”
The problem facing medics in battle is carrying the weight of the fluids necessary to treat an injured soldier in their backpacks.
TIPS is researching ways to decrease the body’s need for those fluids by putting it into “suspended animation,” a term Miller says is used for dramatic shock.
Miller said this treatment could shut down the main functions of the body so it will require fewer fluids for a certain amount of time.
The tools needed to put an injured person into suspended animation or hibernation would be small enough to fit into a backpack.
“[TIPS will] also be doing work looking at how we could quickly stabilize fractures so people could be up and walking within two weeks after getting hurt,” Miller said.
With the advancement in technologies, Carlton said nations can expect to see more and more people surviving wars.
“Nearly 60 percent of the wounded in the Revolutionary War were expected to die,” Carlton said. “In today’s war only 9 to 10 percent of injured soldiers die.”
Austin Welty, head drum major for the Texas A&M Band, aspires to be a Marine officer after graduation.
“Going into combat, one of the things all troops worry about is ‘How are they going to make sure I get back safe if something happens to me?’” Welty said. “This technology sounds like it has the potential to save a lot of lives, and that’s what we’re all about: a successful mission and troop welfare.”
Carlton said we can always expect survival treatments from the military to affect the general public.
Miller said, “Even though these studies are initially for the military, there is a tremendous amount of spillover into the civilian areas.”