Deep bleed stopper

Siemens Healthcare has signed a contract with DARPA to develop a life-saving ultrasound device that limits blood loss from the limbs of injured soldiers.

Siemens Healthcare has signed a contract with the US Defense Advance Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop a life-saving ultrasound device called the deep bleeder acoustic coagulation cuff (DBAC) that limits blood loss from the limbs of injured soldiers.

Partners at the University of Washington's Center for Industrial and Medical Ultrasound (CIMU), the Texas A&M University's Institute for Preclinical Studies (TIPS) and Siemens Corporate Research (SCR) will work together with Siemens Healthcare to achieve DARPA's goal of producing a prototype of the device in 18 months.

The DBAC is designed to limit blood loss from penetrating wounds to limbs, significantly reducing the risk of limb loss and death resulting from irreversible haemorrhagic shock.

Once applied to the limb, the cuff will be able to automatically detect the location and severity of the bleeding within it using ultrasound technology.

This will then trigger the cuff to emit and focus high-power energy towards the bleeding sites, speeding coagulation and halting bleeding.

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