Fact Sheets

The United States Army has a long history of innovation in the field of trauma medicine dating back as far as the Civil War. Currently, the Army Health Care team is actively engaged in breakthrough medical advances that have application for improving care in both the military and civilian worlds. Army Physicians at the frontlines of war are also at the frontline of significant advances in trauma care. The conflict in Iraq has led the U.S. Army medical Department to develop better ways to stop bleeding, save limbs, treat burn victims, address brain trauma, resuscitate soldiers, and dress wounds. These innovations are saving Soldiers’ lives and limbs and will ultimately benefit trauma patients across the globe as they are shared with the civilian medical community.

Some current examples of how Army physicians are at the vanguard of using new drugs, equipment and research include:
 

• Army Medical researchers have been using a powerful blood-coagulating biotech drug called Factor VII and have published several clinical studies on the effects and patient outcome of this untested drug. (“The clinical and laboratory response to recombinant Factor VII in trauma and surgical patients with acquired coagulopathy,” by Dr. McMullin, et al, Current Surgery, July-August, 2006.)

• Physicians at the U.S. Army’s hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, were among the first physicians to use a German innovation called the Novalung, which takes blood from an artery in a leg, oxygenates it and returns it to the circulatory system – breathing for the patient without using the lungs. (A study was recently published on using this device in the May 2007 issue of Military Medicine: “Extracorporeal circulatory systems and their role in military medicine: a clinical review,” by GS Midla, et al.)

Historically, some of the most important medical advancements have been developed to address wounds sustained during war and have consistently led to advancements in civilian trauma care. In fact, the U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research has led to the publication of an average of 40 studies in each of the last four years, some published in such significant academic medical journals including the Journal of Trauma, Surgery, and the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.

Examples of historical innovations include:
 

• Anesthesia, now a staple in every operating room in the country, was first used during the Civil War.

• The “Thomas” splint, the standard of the industry, was first developed during WWI.

• The first whole blood transfusions conducted in WWII lead to significant decline in deaths due to shock or loss of blood volume, both on and off the battle field.

• The Joint Theatre Trauma Registry created during the Vietnam War was among the first real-time registry of battlefield wounds. It allowed the Army medical teams to better care for the wounded by building on their learnings and then transfer the best practices to the civilian trauma world to improve patient care.

• Development of highly efficient evacuation process, Critical Care Air Transport, for the evacuation of seriously wounded patients to Landstuhl then U.S. medical centers. This enables patients to be stabilized and then transported back to the best facilities to treat their specific wound. For example, burn patients arrive at the Brooke Army Medical Center burn unit within 24 hours of injury. This method has become a best practice state-side and is used in leading trauma centers across the U.S.