How New Military Medical Advancements Save Lives

How New Military Medical Advancements Save Lives (Infographic)

 

New developments in artificial limbs, blood clotting and wound repair are helping soldiers survive and recover from devastating injuries.

Head wound:

• Memory pill: Research is under way to develop a pill that reduces physiological responses to experiences associated with post-traumatic stress disorder.

• Injected goop to repair damaged faces: A synthetic-organic material  is injected just under the skin to help restore missing and damaged portions of the face.

• Face transplants:  Research is under way to develop a procedure to help soldiers with severe facial wounds.

Torso/body:

• The Asherman Chest Seal is standard in medic kits, it  was designed by a Navy  SEAL medic to treat open chest injuries.

Blood loss:

• QuikClot/Combat Gauze version was named one of Army’s  top ten inventions of 2008.

• Thawed Plasma and Massive Transfusions programs: The greatly increase the survival rate of severely bleeding casualties.

• HemCon bandage & Chitoflex: Bandage provides a patient with the time needed to reach care or the critical time to clot.

• Dried plasma: Using this ‘portable’ plasma in the field  improves the survival of patients.

Limbs:

• Prosthetics: Lighter and stronger materials enable the fabrication of limbs in different shapes for different purposes, such as the robotic, “Luke Arm.”

• Intrepid Dynamic Exoskeletal Orthosis: Helps wounded soldiers return to duty faster, resembles prosthetic for existing limb.

Other:

• Suspended animation: Research on lifesaving method involves bringing patients” bodies down to hypothermic temperatures.

• Freezing to save brains: Research is under way to develop a therapeutic hypothermia device to prevent traumatic brain injuries. Cooling the brain after trauma might prevent long-term harm to cognitive and motor skills.