Life-Saving Hemorrhage Control by Tactical Police Using Tourniquets and the iTClamp

The White House and Department of Homeland Security considers rapid control of bleeding so critical to survival in trauma that they initiated the national "Stop The Bleed" campaign a year ago.1 The campaign's purpose is to provide non-medical first responders and even bystanders with tools and strategies to control bleeding,2 allowing them to fill the gap between the incident and the arrival of medical personnel, and reinforcing the recommendations of the Hartford Consensus. The application of tourniquet(s) and direct pressure are actively promoted in the campaign in continuance with tried-and-true techniques.2 However, the use of tourniquets and iTClamps (a mechanical direct-pressure device that stops bleeding by sealing the wound closed and using the back pressure of the hematoma to achieve hemostasis) is new to civilian application. While both techniques have been previously documented and proven to stop bleeding from 7.62 mm caliber injurie to the leg on the battlefield,3,4 the following is the first case report combining these two strategies stateside. The use of two tourniquets, in conjunction with the iTClamp, by tactical police stopped the bleeding from a life-threatening femoral artery and vein injury from a 7.62 mm round to the left thigh prior to paramedic arrival.
Source: JEMS Patient Care - Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Tags: Trauma Patient Care Source Type: news