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Updated: Jul 10, 2025
Description of a Swine Infant Model of Volume-Controlled Hemorrhagic Shock
Published on: November 3, 2023
Description of a Swine Infant Model of Volume-Controlled Hemorrhagic Shock
Alicia Rodríguez Martínez1, Sara de la Mata Navazo2, Gema Manrique Martín2
1Pediatric Intensive Care Department, Gregorio Marañón University General Hospital; Gregorio Marañón Health Research Institute; Primary Care Interventions to Prevent Maternal and Child Chronic Diseases of Perinatal and Development Origin Network (RICORS), Carlos III Health Institute; arodriguez@salud.madrid.org.
Insights
Developing a pediatric animal model is crucial for understanding hemorrhagic shock in children. This swine model provides reproducible data on hemodynamic changes and compensatory mechanisms during severe hemorrhage.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric critical care medicine
- Translational research
- Animal modeling
Background:
- Hemorrhagic shock significantly impacts pediatric morbidity and mortality.
- Adult resuscitation guidelines are difficult to apply to children due to physiological differences.
- Limited pediatric patient numbers hinder clinical research on hemorrhagic shock management.
Purpose of the Study:
- To establish a precise and reproducible infant animal model for pediatric hemorrhagic shock.
- To investigate the hemodynamic effects of controlled hemorrhage in immature swine.
- To characterize compensatory mechanisms activated during severe pediatric hemorrhage.
Main Methods:
- Anesthetized young pigs were utilized to create a volume-controlled hemorrhagic shock model.
- Hemorrhage was induced by withdrawing a calculated blood volume.
- Hemodynamic data was collected to monitor the animals during hemorrhage and resuscitation.
Main Results:
- The study successfully established a reproducible model of hemorrhagic shock in immature swine.
- The model generated detailed hemodynamic data reflecting the body's response to severe blood loss.
- Compensatory mechanisms activated during hemorrhage were characterized.
Conclusions:
- This infant swine model offers a valuable platform for studying pediatric hemorrhagic shock.
- The model facilitates research into the effects of hemorrhage and the efficacy of different resuscitation strategies in children.
- Further studies using this model can improve the management of pediatric hemorrhagic shock.
Abstract:
Hemorrhagic shock is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in pediatric patients. Interpretation of the clinical indicators validated in adults to guide resuscitation and comparison between different therapies is difficult in children due to the inherent heterogeneity of this population. As a result, compared to adults, appropriate management of pediatric hemorrhagic shock is still not well established. In addition, the scarcity of pediatric patients with hemorrhagic shock precludes the development of clinically relevant studies. For this reason, an experimental pediatric animal model is necessary to study the effects of hemorrhage in children as well as their response to different therapies. We present an infant animal model of volume-controlled hemorrhagic shock in anesthetized young pigs. Hemorrhage is induced by withdrawing a previously calculated blood volume, and the pig is subsequently monitored and resuscitated with different therapies. Here, we describe a precise and highly reproducible model of hemorrhagic shock in immature swine. The model yields hemodynamic data that characterizes compensatory mechanisms that are activated in response to severe hemorrhage.
