ABSTRACT
This chapter highlights some of the lessons learnt at Defence Science and Technology Laboratories and how the findings of research studies undertaken have been translated into clinical practice. It reviews the impact that this research has had on military patient care and considers how some of these findings have been adopted within civilian practice in the United Kingdom. The chapter details the models used to assess the limitations of pre-hospital resuscitation strategies extant at the beginning of Operation Herrick, which had an impact on developing amended resuscitation strategies for prolonged field care of blast casualties. It considers research into the treatment of limb injury, examining the impact of different wound dressings in a model of high energy limb wounds and the effects of blast on the vascular endothelium. The chapter concludes with studies into the development of future treatments such as the use of a haemoglobin-based oxygen carrier and the impact of analgesic drugs on the response to resuscitation.
