Noninvasive Treatment of Hemorrhagic Shock

Shock secondary to acute blood loss remains the number one cause of death for our soldiers. Furthermore, heat shock and dehydration remain a common cause of cardiovascular collapse for our military personnel, especially as operations move increasingly into desert combat. The main objective of this proposal is to continue the development of the inspiratory impedance threshold device (ITD); an operationally useful and effective device designed to counteract the effects of severe hypotension after the development of hemorrhagic shock, heat shock, and dehydration. The proposed clinical studies are designed to demonstrate that inspiratory impedance in spontaneously breathing patients with hypotension secondary to hypovolemia will result in a clinically meaningful improvement in key hemodynamic parameters. Studies are also proposed in volunteers using a lower body negative pressure chamber to simulate hemorrhagic shock. We anticipate these studies will demonstrate that the use of the ITD by emergency medicine professionals will help “buy time” until more definitive care is available. The successful development and deployment of a new device designed to immediately increase blood pressure following the onset of shock is an important advance in treating battlefield casualties and as a result will ultimately save the lives of military and civilian personnel.