Background: Given the recent success of emergency tourniquets, limb exsanguination is no longer the most common cause of preventable death on the battlefield; hemorrhage amenable to truncal tourniquets now is. The purpose of the present study is to discuss the gaps today in battlefield hemorrhage control and candidate solutions in order to stimulate the advancement of prehospital combat casualty care.
Methods: A literature review, a market survey of candidate devices, a request for devices, and an analysis of the current situation regarding battlefield hemorrhage control were performed.
Results: Hemorrhage control for wounds in the junction between the trunk and the limbs and neck is a care gap in the current war, and, of these, the pelvic (including buttock and groin proximal to the inguinal ligament) area is the most common. Historical and recent reports give background information indicating that truncal tourniquets are plausible devices for controlling junctional hemorrhage on the battlefield. A request for candidate devices yielded few prototypes, only one of which was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.
Conclusions: In order to solve the now most common cause of preventable death on the battlefield, junctional hemorrhage from the pelvic area, the planned approach is a systematic review of research, device and model development, and the fielding of a good device with appropriate training and doctrine.