Dr Dennis Filips saw his fill of traumatic injuries during his tours of Afghanistan with the Canadian Navy. His experiences there has led him to develop the “ITClamp”, an alternative to conventional tourniquets that glomps onto wounds and prevents bleed-outs.
The ITClamp was inspired by hinged hair-clips — the spring-loaded ones with the interlocking combs. Say, as in the video above, you find your self in a subway station, bleeding profusely from a newly discovered hole in your arm. Rather than just sit there and bleed to death, you pull out an ITClamp. It’s a sterile plastic device, about 5cm long with two rows of interlocking needle teeth, which run along each side of the wound and provide the grip to pull the flesh closed.
This produces a clot under the injury and reduces blood loss until you can receive further treatment. This process is reportedly significantly faster than applying a tourniquet. The ITClamp will reportedly retail for $US65 once it passes regulatory inspections. [ITC via Medgadget via Neatorama]