US troops get freeze-dried plasma for battlefield bloodshed

[nitpicker]

https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2017/12/01/us-troops-get-freeze-dried-plasma-for-battlefield-bloodshed/

US troops get freeze-dried plasma for battlefield bloodshed

By: Emery P. Dalesio, The Associated Press    8 hours ago

RALEIGH, N.C. — All of the U.S. military’s special operations fighters now being sent to war zones have freeze-dried blood plasma, a crucial addition to first-aid kits that can prevent badly wounded troops from bleeding to death on the battlefield. Last month, all Marines Corps’ special ops units began carrying freeze-dried plasma into the field. The plasma helps clot blood and can prevent badly wounded troops from bleeding to death on the battlefield.
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Plasma is a straw-colored liquid that contains proteins that make the blood clot. Unlike current plasma supplies that have to be slowly thawed from frozen storage, the dehydrated and powdered freeze-dried version needs no refrigeration and can be used within minutes after swirling it in water.

Over the past five years, the military’s special ops units in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines have received about 1,000 kits of the freeze-dried plasma, including 430 this year. While specific numbers on usage are scarce, the U.S. Special Operations Command said it had been used at least 24 times by Green Berets and other special operations teams in the past five years. Of those treatments, 15 patients survived long enough to be transferred to a hospital.
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