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Freeze-Dried Blood May Save Soldiers' Lives

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the we've-mixed-blood-into-this-man's-coffee dept.

SpaceAdmiral writes "An Israeli company is working on a method to freeze-dry blood. This would enable soldiers to carry a packet of their own blood on the battlefield. If a soldier is injured and needs blood, medics could mix the dried blood with water and give the soldier a transfusion of his or her own blood. From the article: 'The idea is to take a soldier's blood, freeze it in laboratory conditions, take out the ice crystals leaving only the blood components. It will look like freeze-dried coffee in a little bag.'"

23 of 140 comments (clear)

  1. Two technologies by andrewman327 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Polyheme is an artificial blood that is in the final stages of field testing in the USA. Taken together, these two technologies promise to significantly reduce deaths caused by trauma on the battlefields and highways.

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    Information wants a fueled airplane waiting at the hangar and no one gets hurt.
    1. Re:Two technologies by TubeSteak · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Polyheme also happens to be the stuff that they tested on accident victims without consent .

      They used it in ambulances under some exception to the general rule requiring informed consent for clinical trials.

      You can read more about it by poking around Google
      http://www.google.com/search?q=polyheme+consent
      There was a big ethical brouhaha when the testing made the papers.

      So, when you say "final stages of field testing" you really mean
      "used on accident victims without their permission."

      --
      [Fuck Beta]
      o0t!
    2. Re:Two technologies by theelectron · · Score: 3, Insightful

      So, if you were passed out from a heart attack and couldn't give anyone 'consent' and an EMS rolls up with paramedics who are certified in CPR they wouldn't be saving the person's life, they would be "using CPR on a victim without their permission"?

    3. Re:Two technologies by andrewman327 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Actually, that is exactly what I meant. As an EMT I am required to know the law. People's lives were saved in these informed consent trials. The people who really need this stuff are in no position to sign anything. It is designed for people who will die without it, so what's the problem?

      --
      Information wants a fueled airplane waiting at the hangar and no one gets hurt.
    4. Re:Two technologies by jnik · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Implied consent means that if you're so incapacitated you can't refuse treatment, a trained individual may treat you according to training. That's a little different from trials of an unapproved substance--to extend your analogy, it's closer to rolling up with a class of EMT's-in-training.

    5. Re:Two technologies by SpeedBump0619 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Hey I can play that game too:

      So, instead of "used on accident victims without their permission" what you advocate is "withheld from dying people because they couldn't say yes."

      Explain to me how that's better. I agree that oversight is needed for such a program. But the rules of the program only allow it in critical cases where no alternative is available. The only thing that bothers me about it is the continuation of its use once in the hospital.

      If you are going to complain about this trial, don't just take one aspect of it in isolation and whine about that. Yes, no prior consent is received...but it only matters in cases where option 'b' is die.

    6. Re:Two technologies by andrewman327 · · Score: 2, Informative
      "it's closer to rolling up with a class of EMT's-in-training"


      That's called rotations, and the students at my school all have to do them at different times. Believe it or not you may have an EMT in training assisting the full timers in patient care next time you call an ambulance.

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      Information wants a fueled airplane waiting at the hangar and no one gets hurt.
    7. Re:Two technologies by NemosomeN · · Score: 2, Informative

      In the Wall Street Journal (The only paper I read. Is is great? Well, it's free for me. Free as in mandatory subscription.) they said it was linked to several heart attacks. Before the testing on accident victims. Something happened, unrelated, that ruled that trial invalid, if I remember correctly, so they didn't have to tell anyone that there was a risk of heart attack.

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      I hate grammar Nazi's.
  2. funny how the eyes work.. by MrShaggy · · Score: 3, Funny

    when I read the above title; 'freeze-dried bloody mary's may save soldiers lives.'

    My heart was racing.

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    I have mod points and I am not afraid to use them.
  3. Re:My hope by JesseL · · Score: 4, Funny

    Vampires would love it though.

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    "Prefiero morir de pie que vivir siempre arrodillado!"
  4. OKay... by lawpoop · · Score: 2, Funny

    " It will look like freeze-dried coffee in a little bag."

    Okay... but what about the flavor ?

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    Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.
    -- Pablo Picasso
    1. Re:OKay... by Bot+Jockey · · Score: 3, Funny

      We've secretly replaced this soldier's freeze-dried blood with Folger's crystals... let's watch!

    2. Re:OKay... by Donut2099 · · Score: 4, Funny

      'Tom never has a second transfusion at home...'

  5. Blood Libel by Distinguished+Hero · · Score: 2, Informative
    An Israeli company is working on a method to freeze-dry blood.
    Great, though I hope this doesn't encourage the Blood Libel people; that sort of thing still quite popular in "certain" parts of the world.
    --
    Uttering logically derived and empirically supported truths to the disciples of the orthodox establishment.
  6. Murder mystery by Short+Circuit · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Sounds like the makings of a murder mystery. Hate a guy? Give him freeze-dried blood of a different type than what he's compatible with.

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    tasks(723) drafts(105) languages(484) examples(29106)
  7. Old idea and a difficult problem by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    This is an idea that has been around for a long time, but as far as I know no one has gotten it to work. The problem is probably that biological membranes have a hydrophilic surface and a hydrophobic core. In water they are happy that way - the hydrophobic part hidden from the water - but once the water is removed - then they are completely unstable (air/vacuum is effectively hydrophobic). Rehydrating probably gives some incredible mess of membranes. One can add molecules like sugars to try to compensate for the loss of water, but the fact that this was not done 20 years ago tells me that must not be enough - and that there is not some trivial answer. I did not see anything in the article that made me think that these guys had some break through concept.

  8. It's like Tang... by Churla · · Score: 2, Funny

    Tang for Vampires....

    Little vampire kids could run around with a bag of it licking their fingers and sticking them in it...

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    I'm a fiscal conservative, it's a pity we don't have a political party anymore
  9. Works great, until you add confusion & nature by sco08y · · Score: 2, Insightful

    So you're going to have a little baggy with a sticker.

    If they're smart, they'll make sure that blood has to go into containers with the blood type in big letters, so that even if they get mixed up you can look at your dog tags to be sure you're not getting the wrong type of blood.

    Then you also need clean water...

    Today, when soldiers are wounded in action and need a blood transfusion in the battlefield or out in the field, military medics and doctors usually give them a transfusion of water and salt.

    I just got done with CLS yesterday. The IV bag we use is a 500 ml bag; works great for a hangover. I guess you could mix the saline solution with this stuff but you still need a container to mix it in.

    But it's hard enough to give someone an IV... now, by the time you were doing the transfusion you'd already have a saline lock in them. But imagine having to mix this stuff up and get it into a practical container while someone's going into shock.

  10. The Scottish divisions of the British Army... by exp(pi*sqrt(163)) · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...are going to love this. They'll be able to make their favorite food out in the field whenever they want.

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    Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
  11. Battlefield lifesaver by konigstein · · Score: 2, Insightful

    As a soldier, I would be ecstatic if this were to work as it should. I've stabilized many good friends who got plasma and blood just in a knick of time, because none was immediately available.

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  12. Re:My hope by FrankDrebin · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...we've secretly replaced the Count's normal drink with new Soldier's Crystals. Let's see if he notices the difference...

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    Anybody want a peanut?
  13. My blood type is caffeine by Kelson · · Score: 2, Funny
    It will look like freeze-dried coffee in a little bag.

    There's a coffee chain in my area (Kelly's Coffee and Fudge) that has T-shirts that say, "Instant human. Just add coffee."

    Somehow, that phrase suddenly seems all the more appropriate.

  14. Minute Maid Orange Juice by pacalis · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This is what National Research Corporation, an MIT incubator, aimed to do in the 1940s ... It didn't work then becuase the cells wouldn't survive, but maybe they can aim for some good OJ. http://www.minutemaid.com/aboutus/history.shtml