February 4, 2013 3:25 pm Internal bleeding on the battlefield
often proves deadly for soldiers hit by bullets or shrapnel. But
the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has just
announced a new type of injectable foam that could save lives by
molding to organs to stop hemorrhaging, Scientific American
reports. If trials work out, field medics could use the foam as
a way to buy time for soldiers on their way to medical
facilities. Like epoxy glue, the foam requires two different
liquids to be stored separately and mixed together through an
injection. When the polyurethane foam enters the abdominal
cavity, the mixture expands around 30 times its original size
and hardens into a solid. It acts to seal wounded tissues, which
stops the bleeding. Doctors at medical facilities can remove the
foamy mass and perform surgery to permanently fix the
battlefield damage. “We’ve been waiting for this,” says Donald
Jenkins, trauma director at Saint Mary’s Hospital in Rochester,
Minn., and a 24-year Air Force vete