Prehospital emergency inguinal clamp controls hemorrhage in cadaver model

The Combat Ready Clamp is indicated to stop difficult inguinal bleeding on the battlefield, the most common type of junctional bleeding and now the most common cause of preventable battlefield death. The purpose of the present study is to report the data of clamp development to help appliers use it correctly.

Wake Forest University investigators used a cadaver model to test the clamp's ability to control hemorrhage. Ten fresh cadavers were made to simulate inguinal and popliteal wound bleeding. Blood simulant was pumped to quantify device effectiveness in testing. Points of application included proximal pressure point control of popliteal, inguinal, and bilateral bleeding.

Clamp use promptly controlled pulsing arterial hemorrhages from inguinal, popliteal, and bilateral wounds. The device, when placed on the common iliac artery, stopped all ipsilateral distal bleeding.

The evidence of how the clamp works in the cadaver model showed that clamp use can plausibly be tailored to control inguinal hemorrhage from one wound, control two ipsilateral wounds with hemorrhage from one artery (e.g., common iliac artery), and control bilateral inguinal wounds (compression of the origins of bilateral common iliac arteries).