How New Military Medical Advancements Save Lives (Infographic)

New developments in artificial limbs, blood clotting and wound repair are helping soldiers survive and recover from devastating injuries.

Head wound:

• Memory pill: Research is under way to develop a pill that reduces physiological responses to experiences associated with post-traumatic stress disorder.

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• Injected goop to repair damaged faces: A synthetic-organic material  is injected just under the skin to help restore missing and damaged portions of the face.

• Face transplants:  Research is under way to develop a procedure to help soldiers with severe facial wounds.

Torso/body:

• The Asherman Chest Seal is standard in medic kits, it  was designed by a Navy  SEAL medic to treat open chest injuries.

Blood loss:

• QuikClot/Combat Gauze version was named one of Army’s  top ten inventions of 2008.

• Thawed Plasma and Massive Transfusions programs: The greatly increase the survival rate of severely bleeding casualties.

• HemCon bandage & Chitoflex: Bandage provides a patient with the time needed to reach care or the critical time to clot.

• Dried plasma: Using this ‘portable’ plasma in the field  improves the survival of patients.

Limbs:

• Prosthetics: Lighter and stronger materials enable the fabrication of limbs in different shapes for different purposes, such as the robotic, “Luke Arm.”

• Intrepid Dynamic Exoskeletal Orthosis: Helps wounded soldiers return to duty faster, resembles prosthetic for existing limb.

Other:

• Suspended animation: Research on lifesaving method involves bringing patients" bodies down to hypothermic temperatures.

• Freezing to save brains: Research is under way to develop a therapeutic hypothermia device to prevent traumatic brain injuries. Cooling the brain after trauma might prevent long-term harm to cognitive and motor skills.