A new medical treatment developed by an Australian researcher could increase the chances of patients surviving critical injuries sustained on the battlefield or in rural and remote locations.
The drug's life-saving potential has grabbed the attention of US Special Operations Command who have given inventor Professor Geoffrey Dobson from James Cook University more than half a million dollars to refine the treatment with plans for human trials within a year.
The team have already tested the treatment, a combination of existing drugs, in rats and pigs.
Professor Dobson said more than 87 per cent of allied soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan died in the 30 minutes following their injury, mainly from major blood loss or brain injuries, before they could be transferred to hospital.
But of the thousands of soldiers who had died, Professor Dobson said about a quarter could have survived their wounds if they had been stabilised within those 30 minutes.
Trauma that causes significant blood loss can force the heart into haemorrhagic shock, a life-threatening condition where tissues are starved of oxygenated blood, which could result in significant organ damage, particularly to the brain, and death.
The new treatment would be administered in two-stages, with the first injection designed to kick-start the heart after massive bleeding, raising the patient's blood pressure enough for the organ to survive and pump blood around the body.
A key innovation is the small volume, which would avoid raising the patient's blood pressure too high, a situation that could restart their bleeding and cause death, said Professor Dobson.
The therapy had properties that could also protect the brain, something traditional resuscitation fluids failed to do.
"One aspect of our solution has high salt, which stops the brain from swelling," said Professor Dobson, who has patented his invention and set up a company to protect his intellectual property.
The first stage of the therapy aimed to maintain the heart in a low pressure, hibernation-like state for an hour or two. It would then be followed up with a low-volume drip designed to stabilise the patient for many hours until they could be evacuated for treatment.
"It's a one-two punch," said Professor Dobson of the therapy – a combination of drugs, which have Food and Drug Administration approval for other uses, known as adenosine, lidocaine and magnesium sulfate (ALM).
University of Sydney emergency medicine specialist Paul Middleton said although whilethe therapy had potential and appeared promising in animals studies, its efficacy needed to be demonstrated in human studies.
"The history of medicine is littered with ideas that seem to be good when you do it in six rats but when you try it in several hundred humans never does any good," said Professor Middleton.
The US Special Operations Command have funded a one-year study to further refine the therapy in animals, with plans to commence human trials in the US next year.
