Battlefield Medkits Improve

ApharmdB writes "CNN has an article on the US military's fielding of a bandage containing clotting agents that can stop blood flow within two minutes. Obviously, the hope is that they will save a lot of lives. What's next straight from your favorite FPS? Who has an estimate on how long it will take for the Army to outfit its troops with anti-personnel rocket launchers?" Those have been around for quite a while.

Comments

Re:future weapons

[stratjakt]

They've been working on railguns for awhile. They have them working, and can electromagnetically accellerate aluminum rings at insane speeds (like twice that of the average bullet).

They just can't get the thing down to a portable size, nor figure out how to supply it with the jiggawatts(TM) of juice it needs to fire.

But they do exist.

topostat

[frovingslosh]

Back in the 70's a friend, who had been an army medic in the 60's, told me about a spray on clotting agent called, if I remember right, Topostat. It could stop bleeding and save lives by spraying on a bleeding wound and forming an instant scab. He even tracked some down from a civilian medical supply house and I got a can from him. It worked.

Why is this apparently a lost technology? I couldn't even find mention of it in a google search.

Battlefield medicine has done a lot

[stratjakt]

A lot of medical innovations have come out of the military in the past, much like innovations in other industries (computers, aviation)

Blood plasma comes to mind. Way back some army docs realized that if you lose a huge amount of blood, you're more likely to die of shock simply because your heart has nothing to pump around.

They realized you can use a centrifuge to take out all the red blood cells, dehydrate what's left, and all you need to do is add distilled water and get it into the body of an exsanguinated soldier. Just the fact that theres some fluid in the system for the heart to pump is enough to keep you alive until you can replace the red blood cells, and other gook in there..

It works regardless of blood type, takes less space, and doesn't require refrigeration (keeps longer).

Science has long been at it's best when its at war. Make of that what you will, but it's always been so.