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Clot

The implementation of coagulants in a ballistic vest

John York

The Academy for Math, Engineering, and Science

Research Plan

9/6/16
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Clot

One of the main causes of battlefield deaths is bleeding out. This is not a military specific

problem as a law enforcement officer may also suffer from a similar problem. Bleeding out

occurs when a soldier is hit and there are not proper conditions that would allow for the wound to

be treated. This can be a lack of other people around who can provide first aid, or it can be a

combat situation that would not allow medical treatment to be dealt soon enough. Many

battlefield wounds would be treatable and deaths would be avoidable if medical aid could be

applied and so fewer soldiers would die in combat if these wounds could be treated.

Coagulants could be the answer to this. Coagulants are medicines that speed up the

clotting process in blood, this process is explained more in depth by Encyclopedia Britannica

(2016). In short the clotting process is the process that your body uses to naturally stop bleeding .

If a coagulant is properly applied to a wound it stops the bleeding relatively quickly. Coagulants

are already applied in many battlefield situations but they could potentially be used more

efficiently. If a coagulant delivery system was in a ballistic vest so that chest wounds would have

it automatically applied and therefore help prevent a fatal loss of blood. This is difficult even

with an application of coagulants however because the human body only has around 5 liters of

blood and according to Vascular Concepts (n.d.) the heart can pump up to 30 liters of blood per Commented [1]: insert "(n.d.)" to finish out your in-text
citation
minute which means if severed wrong you can bleed out in less than 30 seconds however this is Commented [2]: Add a note on the bright side (lots of
wounds leave you more time)--Give us some hope that
your project will help in many cases
very rare and many wounds take significantly more time.
Commented [3]: Great fact!

Coagulants are currently used in the battlefield, the use of them is not a new concept. The

way they are administered is vastly different however from how I am proposing, as shown in the

paper by Bond where he reviews medical techniques. Often they are applied directly by a medic Commented [4]: John, click on the star-shaped
Explore icon at the lower right here--there are two
articles you read!
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and then pressure is applied to the wound for approximately 5 minutes. This can be problematic

however because often by the time you can safely start giving medical attention to a wound the

patient has already lost a fair amount of blood. A direct application of a coagulant immediately

into a wound would not necessarily solve the whole problem set associated with a bullet wound

but slowing the bleeding of a bullet wound would certainly buy time for anyone hit by slowing if

not stopping the bleeding.

However, just creating a coagulant delivery system to be put in a vest can be a

problematic solution. It can come with several problems such as, implementing it into a vest,

getting past all the patents of all the current vests, and many more compatibility related

problems. Since all of these concerns are entirely legitimate the best way to properly demonstrate

a system such as a coagulant delivery system is in all probability to create an entire ballistic vest.

A coagulant used would have to be a powder because of the way that liquid and gel

coagulants are stored, as shown in the article by Vara (2013). It would be expensive and

impractical for a battlefield use because it is needed to be so precise. The storage of liquid

coagulants wouldn't be able to live up to the industry standards set by the current vest as shown

in the article by KDH defense systems because liquid coagulants need to be stored at very

dependent temperatures, some need to be frozen, some need to be kept at room temperature, but

the vest needs to deal with adverse if not extreme weather conditions.

The exact powder that is going to be used in this project is Celox which is the same

science shown by Hoggarth and Allen (2016). Celox is not exactly a coagulant but it works very

similarly. Instead of starting the process just as a catalyst Celox also makes itself into a barrier

therefore giving the blood another barrier to keep it in and help give the blood more time to clot.
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According to this company only 15 grams of the Celox granules is needed for a moderate or

severely bleeding wound in a combat situation.

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Design Goal

To build a bag out of stretchy nylon filled with Celox coagulant that deploys into any

wound the bag covers, this implies that at least 15 grams of coagulant will be applied to wounds.
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Materials

- Coagulant- Celox
- Coagulant similar material that can be used to test how the coagulant will react more
cheaply- sugar
- Skintight shirt
- Extra Fabric
- Ziploc Bags
- BB Pellets
- BB Gun

-
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Methods

The first procedure will be to find a cheap material similar to the coagulant in order to

make this a more cost effective test. Then the material will be put into bags. The bags will be

strapped to a target and be shot repeatedly with a BB Gun to see how they react to establish a

baseline. The bag will be weighed before and after to test how much of the powder went into the

wound based on how much of the powder left the bag.

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Safety: I will use the rules established by the article on gun safety by the NRA (Education

and Training, n.d.). I will also abide by any additional rules established at the range that I use. To

summarize them however they basically state that.

- Keep the gun pointed in a safe direction

- Keep your finger off the trigger

- Load the gun only when about to fire

- Know where you are shooting: the range, what's beyond, making sure no one is

down range

- Wear eye/ear protection

- Keep the safety on until about to fire

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Schematics

The bold line is ballistic nylon.

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References

Bond, J., Mr. (n.d.). COMBAT LIFESAVERCOURSE: STUDENT SELF-STUDY. Retrieved

September 1, 2016, from https://www.mtu.edu/arotc/cadet-
portal/docs/ISO871_Student_Self_Study.pdf
Coagulation." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 22 Sept.
2016.
Education and Training| NRA Gun Safety Rules. (n.d.). Retrieved October 13, 2016, from
http://training.nra.org/nra-gun-safety-rules.aspx
Hoggarth, A., & Alden, M. (n.d.). Evaluation of the use of hemostatic agents and the residual
particles
left in the wound. Retrieved September 20, 2016, from
http://www.celoxmedical.com/wp-content/uploads/Evaluation-of-Residual-Particles.pdf
Holcomb, J. B., McMullin, N. R., Pearse, L., Caruso, J., Wade, C. E., Oetjen-Gerdes, L., . . .

Butler, F. K. (2007). Causes of Death in U.S. Special Operations Forces in the

Global War on Terrorism: 2001–2004. Retrieved September 08, 2016, from

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1876965/

How Celox Blood Clotting Agents Work | Celox. (n.d.). Retrieved October 25, 2016, from
http://www.celoxmedical.com/usa/usaresources/resourceshow-it-works/
IOTV III – Improved Outer Tactical Vest (gen III). (n.d.). Retrieved August 30, 2016, from
http://www.kdhdefensesystems.com/product/iotv-iii-improved-outer-tactical-vest-gen-iii/
"Top 5 Ammo Types for Your Survival Guns." Survivopedia. N.p., 2015. Web. 16 Sept.

2016.

Vascular Concepts - State of the art Endovascular Devices. (n.d.). Retrieved November 03, 2016,
from http://www.vascularconcepts.com/content/pages.php?pg=patients_cardio_system
Vyas, K. S., & Saha, S. P. (2013). Comparison of hemostatic agents used in vascular surgery.
Retrieved September 01, 2016, from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4390172/