Today, if you're an accident victim with near-fatal injuries, and you're in a remote area, the chances are great that you will not survive the trip to the hospital. Even if the paramedics arrive quickly, they don't necessarily have all the tools they need to keep you alive. It is during this first phase of trauma care that a patient's chances for survival are lowest.

Actions during the first phase of trauma are the most critical for a patient's chances for survival, and little progress in addressing this critical time period has been made in fifty years.

The Trauma and Casualty Care Program is focused on finding ways to save lives through actions immediately after injury, prolonging the period where definitive care may be provided, and making care more effective when victims reach the hospital or other site with deeper resources.

Clinical Problem: Prevent deaths or irreversible decline in the critical minutes following accidents or trauma.

CIMIT Solutions:

• Develop new tools for first-responders to use that can quickly detect and reduce internal bleeding.
• Develop a method of rapidly lowering the body's temperature in the first moments of injury to allow keeping patients alive with only as little as 10% of their normal volume of blood.

The TCC program is striving to reduce mortality rates, maybe significantly in the long-term. Perhaps as important, the methods of controlling hemorrhage and managing metabolic load may dramatically reduce the morbidity and contribute to much improved patient outcomes.

Watch Program Leader
George Velmahos in Video:
CIMIT Life-Saving Innovation
in Early Stage of Trauma.

The Flash video will automatically load below.
You will need the Flash Player to view.