A multi-disciplinary team of researchers at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) have developed a detailed computer model of an injured human leg that includes the complex workings of blood flow. The aim of the project, sponsored by the Office of Naval Research, is to provide combat medics with a realistic training tool to enable them to better control hemorrhaging.
Medics need to know how to treat traumatic limb injuries and severe bleeding, but existing simulators lacked realistic blood mechanics, according an article from the Office of Naval Research. The simulator was created at UCLA’s Center for Advanced Surgical and Interventional Technology (CASIT) by a team that included surgeons, fluid dynamicists, biomedical engineers, mathematicians and psychologists.
The advanced simulator will reproduce battlefield injuries, making it possible for future combat medics to get real-time experience with a virtual patient.
Dr. Ray Perez, a program officer in ONR’s Warfighter Performance Department, states that “leg injuries are particularly difficult to treat since different points of entry cause different levels of blood loss. This new simulator model can better prepare medics with various ways to staunch bleeding.”
According to the source article, the Navy and Marine Corps are pursuing trials with the simulator.
This video shows how it works: