Plasma trial results in ‘unexpected survivors’
Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS), a UK HEMS charity, has announced that the early results of its trial using plasma onboard it helicopters has seen yet more ‘unexpected survivors’.
Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS), a UK HEMS charity, has announced that the early results of its trial using plasma onboard it helicopters has seen yet more ‘unexpected survivors’. The trial began in May 2016, and a review of the first five months of data has revealed that the effects have been positive.
“We’re delighted to see evidence that using fresh frozen plasma alongside red blood cell transfusions, when stabilising patients with life threatening injuries, has had such a positive impact,” said Dr Rachel Hawes, an experienced GNAAS aircrew doctor and consultant in anaesthesia and pre-hospital emergency medicine at Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary. “Across the first five months of the new trial, we have seen three unexpected survivors, which is fantastic news.”
During the trial period, 36 patients were treated with the procedure, something that Hawes says shows ‘how much this new approach has become routine practice’. She added: “We always hoped the balanced transfusion technique would mean more patients arriving at hospital with their bleeding under control and minimal abnormal clotting. What we didn’t expect to see was that these patients then required fewer transfusions in hospital.”
GNAAS said that it is planning to build a regional Centre of Medical Excellence to enable more research projects.