A Georgia Physician has co-developed a new weapon in the war against lethal battle field injuries. The device is called an abdominal aortic tourniquet.

Dr. Richard Schwartz, Chairman of the Department of Emergency Medicine in the Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Health Sciences University, says his experience as a special forces medic informs the design.

He says the inflatable device allows service personnel to clamp hard-to-reach blood vessels without performing invasive surgical procedures.

“We currently have very sophisticated body armor for our soldiers but at the junction between (where) the torso and the legs meet--that’s also an area where the body armor ends and those injuries are very difficult to control.”

Schwartz and his partner Dr. John Croushorn developed device and procedure over a period of nearly 5 years. With FDA pre-market approval in place, production is anticipated to begin within the next 60 days.

Tags: medical technology, Abdominal Aortic Tourniquet