This Foam Can Be Shot Into The Body To Stop Major Bleeding

Tuesday, December 11, 2012 - 16:31 in Health & Medicine

The new DARPA-developed technology is aimed at buying soldiers enough time to get medical care. Following the debut of an amazing new shapeshifting material that could improve drug delivery, military-tech wing DARPA has unveiled this equally impressive polymer foam. Just inject two liquids where a soldier is bleeding, and the chemicals react, creating a foam that presses against an internal wound and stanches the flow of blood. That buys at least a precious hour to find medical care. About 85 percent of preventable battlefield deaths are from internal wounds that need surgery or other in-hospital treatment. There's often just not enough time to transport a soldier from a firefight to a place where they can get the right medical attention. But during testing on pigs, Darpa says the foam increased the chances of survival after three hours from 8 percent to 72 percent, and surgeons removing the foam could do it...

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