Prehospital management of uncontrolled bleeding in trauma patients: nearing the light at the end of the tunnel

Abstract

The management of uncontrolled bleeding in trauma patients is difficult in the prehospital setting, especially when transfer time to a care facility is prolonged. The goal of treatment is to stabilize the patient until surgery can be performed. In modem practice, the major aspects of optimal patient stabilization are the timing and volume of resuscitation and the use of blood products. The main problems are the logistics of handling the blood products as well as achieving the appropriate endpoint of resuscitation, while balancing the need to maintain blood pressure with the need to avoid deleterious coagulopathy. This work reviews current therapeutic modalities for prehospital management of uncontrolled bleeding trauma patients, namely low volume resuscitation, packed red blood cells, hemoglobin solutions, perfluorocarbons, hypertonic saline solutions, and recombinant activated factor VII.