3D-printed tourniquets could save lives in war zones lacking crucial medical supplies.
Tourniquets, which use constriction to prevent massive bleeding in extremities, have long been used on the battlefield in one form or another. Over time, their design has been honed to be just a nylon strap that doesn鈥檛 stretch and a plastic windlass that allows a user to tighten the device enough to constrict blood flow in a limb and stop bleeding.
Apart from being used in military conflicts, tourniquets are used by medics responding to everything from mass shooting incidents to natural disasters.
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But getting hold of tourniquets can be difficult in some areas. Constricted supply chains and blockades in conflict zones in places like Gaza, Myanmar and Ukraine make these simple but effective devices expensive and often downright impossible to buy.
Now, several organisations have created open-source tourniquet designs that can be 3D printed just about anywhere that people have internet access and a spool of PETG plastic. The 3D-printed components include a buckle and windlass, the crucial device used for tightening that is made up of a very strong barrel and locking clip. These are then combined with a nylon and Velcro strap and can be sewn together on site.
鈥淚t is an interesting prospect of having these tourniquets be available, especially in austere areas where you can鈥檛 actually get access to quality medical equipment,鈥� a former US Special Forces medical sergeant, who asked not to be named because he currently works providing security in conflict zones, told New 杏吧原创.
The by Canadian company has been available since 2018. It was designed to be manufactured using solar-powered 3D printers inside Gaza, where an ongoing blockade limits access to basic medical supplies.
High-quality, pre-made tourniquets cost between $30 and $50 each when readily available.
Most tourniquets now sold are designed for adult soldiers. Glia鈥檚 design is for a broader range of people, including children, and requires only about 60 grams of PETG plastic. Because PETG sells for about $15 per kilogram, it means the 3D-printed components cost about $1 per tourniquet.
Other groups have now developed similar products in response to Russia鈥檚 invasion of Ukraine. , a group of volunteers, published its design in . It allows plastic parts to be printed anywhere in the world, then tested and shipped to Poland, Switzerland or western Ukraine where they are assembled and sent to the front lines. Other tourniquets are being printed in Ukraine using machines and filament donated Sygnis.
In Myanmar, have been killed following a February 2021 military coup, groups are using 3D printers to produce everything from tourniquets to . Parts of the country are isolated, and supply chains were slow even before the country was torn apart by civil war, so farmers have been there for some time. Now those printers are churning out potentially life-saving medical devices.
While the ease and accessibility of 3D printing make it useful for production in war zones, whatever manufacturing method is used, ensuring that products are robust is key. 鈥淚t is really important to have a high standard of safety,鈥� says Glia executive director Carrie Wakem.
3D Printing for Ukraine tests each batch before sending it to the front lines, and reports of failures or suggestions for improvements are sent back to individual makers or the community as a whole.
Wakem says Ukrainian medical authorities have now received hundreds of printed tourniquets, and that they are working on a quality-control test that will be open source and accessible to anyone with an internet connection.
The former Special Forces medical sergeant that spoke to New 杏吧原创 says that quality control is the major concern. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 in good conscience truly recommend the use of them until more comprehensive data is available or some kind of rigid standardised testing to verify their efficacy,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut there definitely could be some promise, as time goes on.鈥�
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