For this week, the most significant thing that we have read about that can be put to great use in the battlefield is in the area of battlefield medicine. Do you still remember Battelle, the company behind the DroneDefender, a technology that can bring down stray drones safely by using radio waves that we wrote about before? Now, they are back and are working with the Office of Naval Research (ONR) in developing new ways to save injured limbs.

Treating limb injury quickly after a blast is a highly urgent matter.  In the seconds and minutes after a blast incident, it is crucial to protect the limb as blood is lost, risk of infection high due to dirt and bacteria, and the tissue will start to dry and deteriorate. Failure to quickly administer first aid treatment to the injured limb can lead to loss of such and even death.

The ONR awarded a US$14.4 million, 4-year contract to Battelle and Halyard Health which “calls for the development of a conformal cover that protects the injured limb while providing a therapeutic cocktail that mitigates damage and promotes tissue survival.” This bandage can be administered by medics and corpsmen at the point of injury in the battlefield. It should be lightweight and will be able to keep the wound fresh and maintain the condition of the tissue for up to three days allowing time for the injured soldier to be brought to a proper medical facility for further treatment that can lead to saving the affected limb.

The solution is the Acute Care Cover for the Severely Injured Limb (ACCSIL) which is a bandage wrap that is comprised of two layers. The outer layer is the conformal wrap that is able to be wrapped to the shape of the wounded limb, be able to stop bleeding and prevent bacteria and dirt from coming in. The second layer is the “bioactive” inner layer that has a concoction of chemical designed to deliver antibiotics, pain relief, keep the wound moist, and prevent fungal and bacterial growth.

Image: Two possible designs of the ACCSIL (Source: Battelle)

“Successful development of this system will provide military medics a solution currently unavailable to them,” said Kelly Jenkins, a Director of Battelle’s Advanced Materials group. “Current bandages aren’t very good at keeping out bacteria, so a lot of medics improvise by using plastic wrap and lots of tape — which is actually really good at keeping the wound moist but not protecting or preserving tissue. ACCSIL will function much better.”

Image: Early concepts of how ACCSIL bandaging may look like

The ACCSIL project will be working on the concepts being developed for this medical solution and the progress to the prototype stage is seen in 2017. If the ACCSIL project is deemed fit for use in the battlefield, it is seen to be used further beyond battlefield medicine application, such as for use by first responders in emergency and rescue situations.

Top photo: U.S. Navy Corpsmen applying first aid to a dummy in a field exercise. (U.S. Marine photo by Lance Cpl. Joshua Young)