The MUHC introduces an innovative balloon catheter that stops bleeding in minutes

The MUHC introduced a first in local traumatology: a balloon catheter that stops bleeding within minutes from a bleeding patient.

Vital innovation was developed by two US doctors in Iraq and Afghanistan

It is one of the leading causes of death on the battlefield, they say, especially in places boasting hidden IEDs, or near crossfire.

This new balloon catheter model is called ER-REBOA. one used during the Korean War.

Without this, field doctors would more than likely be forced to open the chest of a patient in a controlled setting to squeeze the aorta and stop the bleeding.

the femoral artery in the groin, up to the aorta, and as the balloon expands inside the body, it acts as an internal tourniquet – stop bleeding in a minute or less.

Andrew Beckett is the trauma surgeon who introduced the device at the MUHC. He also happens to be chief of surgery and trauma for the Canadian army.

"People can bleed very quickly – in minutes – and to improve the survival rate, we have to be content with hemorrhaging," he says. "What we do know is that speed saves lives [when it comes to] controlling a hemorrhage."

During the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, Beckett said that about 20% of patients who could have been saved would die from pelvic fractures.

"There was a strong need to develop a technology that could quickly control this kind of bleeding," Beckett added

This is the first time that the device has been introduced in a civilian setting. [19659005TheapparatuswastestedontwomeninMontrealGeneralTwoFirstCanada

A patient was shot six weeks ago, and would have bled if the doctors were not able to transport him to the hospital to receive

In the end it took the doctor only 43 seconds to insert the catheter, inflate it and stop the bleeding.