First Aid For Arterial Bleeding - Stopping Rules, Application Of A Tourniquet

2024 Author: Josephine Shorter | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-07 17:49

First aid for arterial bleeding

Content:

• Rules for stopping arterial bleeding
• The imposition of a tourniquet for arterial bleeding
• Danger of arterial bleeding

Arterial bleeding is a very serious injury that can be fatal if medical attention is not provided promptly. It is considered the most dangerous of all types of bleeding. If the arteries are damaged, blood flows out of them in a gushing stream.

Arterial blood is distinguished by its bright scarlet color. It flows out of the vessel in accordance with the beats of the heart. Such an injury can cause death not only immediately after receiving it, but even with the provision of qualified medical care. Arterial bleeding can lead to loss of an injured limb and other complications.

Rules for stopping arterial bleeding

Blood loss with arterial bleeding occurs so rapidly that emergency assistance should be provided from the very first 2-3 minutes after its formation. When large arteries are injured, the time for providing emergency assistance is reduced to 1-2 minutes. Otherwise, blood pressure will drop with every second, as a result of which the victim will lose consciousness, fall into a coma or die immediately.

In case of arterial bleeding, first of all, squeeze (squeeze) with your fingers or fist the site of injury, trying to stop the gushing blood flow.

In this case, certain rules should be observed in pressing and squeezing certain blood vessels:

• The common carotid artery is pressed with fingers to the spine, namely, to the transverse processes of the cervical vertebrae. In this case, you should press on the inner edge of the sternocleidomastoid muscle approximately in its middle part.
• The external jaw artery is pressed with fingers to the anterior edge of the masseter muscle.
• The temporal artery is squeezed with the fingers slightly forward from the upper edge of the ear.
• The subclavian artery is pressed with fingers or a fist behind the outer edge of the clavicular portion of the sternocleidomastoid muscle to the first rib.
• The brachial artery is squeezed by fingers along the inner edge of the biceps muscle to the bone.
• The femoral artery is pressed by the fist against the pubic bone under the pupar ligament. In thin people, this vessel can easily be pressed against the thigh.
• The popliteal artery is pressed with a fist in the middle of the popliteal cavity.

After providing emergency assistance in pressing the vessel in case of damage to large arteries, it is necessary to immediately apply a rubber tourniquet to them. For minor bleeding, a tight roller or one-piece sterile bandage is bandaged to the injury. In extreme conditions, instead of a tourniquet, you can use a belt, scarf, thick rope and other improvised means with which to make a pressure bandage. A sterile bandage is applied to the wound itself to prevent infection from entering the body.

In some cases, when there is no bone fracture, you can use forced flexion of the injured limb instead of a tourniquet. With this method of stopping arterial bleeding, the injured limb is bent and fixed in a bent position with a bandage or other available means.

The imposition of a tourniquet for arterial bleeding

Already during the provision of first aid to the victim to squeeze the vessels, someone from the surrounding should prepare a tourniquet or improvised means, cotton wool, gauze or cotton napkins. Gauze or tissue is applied to the damaged areas of the body, without reaching the bleeding site. The injured limbs should be in an elevated position. The rubber band is slightly stretched and wrapped around the limb in 2-3 turns. The tourniquet should be applied tightly enough to stop bleeding from the artery, but the limb should not be strongly squeezed. Its ends are tied, fastened with a hook or chain. As a rule, a tourniquet or a pressure bandage is applied 2-3 cm above the wound.

Features of the application of a tourniquet for various types of arterial damage:

• If the hands are injured, it is applied to the upper third of the shoulder.
• The optimal localization of the tourniquet on the upper limb is the upper or lower third of the shoulder (in the middle of the shoulder, the tourniquet should not be applied to avoid damage to the radial nerve).
• With severe damage to the femoral artery, another tourniquet may be needed, which is applied slightly higher than the first.
• In case of ruptures of the carotid artery and other injuries to the face and head, a soft bandage is placed under the tourniquet so as not to cause additional injuries. At the same time, the tourniquet is not tightened too tightly to prevent suffocation of a person and insufficient blood circulation in the brain.

If the tourniquet is applied correctly, then the blood flow stops completely. A note is placed under the tourniquet, which indicates the data on the damage and the time of applying the pressure bandage. The area on the body where the tourniquet is applied should not be completely covered by clothing so that the medical staff in the hospital can immediately find the site of damage.

After the application of the tourniquet, the victim is immediately sent to a medical facility, where he will receive the necessary assistance. When transporting a patient with wounds on large arteries, he must be immobilized (immobilized).

To prevent severe consequences from insufficient nutrition of tissues, their necrosis and paralysis due to compression of nerve fibers, the tourniquet should not be left on the body for more than 90 minutes. If a situation arises when the tourniquet should still remain on the damaged artery, it is slightly loosened for a few minutes and then tightened again. When using a tourniquet in the cold season, it is necessary to warmly wrap the victim, especially the injured limb.

Danger of arterial bleeding

If a victim with arterial bleeding is not given emergency assistance in the first minutes after injury, he will simply bleed out and die. The very rapid loss of blood prevents the body from turning on its defense mechanisms. In this case, the heart does not have enough normal blood volume, as a result of which blood circulation completely stops.

Even pressing the arteries in the first minutes after injury is often difficult because they have thicker and more stubborn walls than veins, and the blood pressure in them is much higher. Even with the final stop of such bleeding in a medical institution, various complications may arise. When treating a wound, the doctor will bandage the vessel in the wound. In some cases, a vascular suture may be required. Changes in tissue ratios in anatomical terms, crushing and heavy bleeding make the process of finding a vessel and ligating a wound very problematic. In case of internal bleeding, the victim needs urgent surgical intervention, since a squeezing bandage in this case cannot be applied.

Lack of help after the application of the tourniquet often leads to the death of the limb, due to impaired blood flow. The lack of blood in the tissues 8-10 hours after injury to the artery becomes critical. At the same time, the development of gangrene begins, which is an irreversible necrosis of the tissues of the limb. After this, the patient can still be saved only by amputation of the injured limb. Moreover, she is amputated much higher than the place where the gangrene began.

With significant blood loss, donor blood is transfused to the victim after the bleeding has stopped. Its volume can be up to 1000 cc. With such injuries, rapidly growing pulsating hematomas often occur. They also need to be operated on. For bleeding in people with reduced blood clotting and pathological changes in the walls of blood vessels, a 10% solution of calcium chloride is used. It is prescribed in a volume of 10-20 cubic meters. see intravenously. The best result in the treatment of arterial bleeding is given by repeated blood transfusions in small (homeostatic) doses (100-150 cc). The patient needs complete rest after the operation. A cold compress is applied locally to the wound.

Based on the above, it becomes clear that without the provision of emergency and professional medical care, damage to the arteries, which led to bleeding, can cost a person his life. That is why it is so important to be able to provide first aid to the victim and quickly deliver him to the hospital. The prognosis for recovery after such an injury depends on the size of the injury, its location on the body, and on a number of other reasons that led to this injury.

Author of the article: Alekseeva Maria Yurievna | Therapist

Education: From 2010 to 2016 Practitioner of the therapeutic hospital of the central medical-sanitary unit No. 21, city of elektrostal. Since 2016 she has been working in the diagnostic center No. 3.