Pelvic Injuries Can Be Devastating
Traumatic injuries from motorcycle or automobile accidents, falls, and industrial accidents are all causes of pelvic trauma. Untreated, injuries can result in extreme pain and significant – often fatal – internal bleeding.
T-POD® Pelvic Stabilizer offers emergency medical personnel, emergency room professionals, industrial first aid attendants, and military medics a simple, effective device to bind the pelvis, reduce pain and bleeding, and thereby reduce the complications associated with injury.
How T-POD® Works
When treating a pelvic injury or significant pelvic pain, T-POD® is a fast, simple, effective, and non-invasive lifesaving device.
The specially engineered Mechanical Advantage® pulley allows T-POD® to be easily drawn closed without straining and ensures safe, balanced, pelvic compression.
And, by using simultaneous circumferential compression and secure closure, T-POD® can hold the pelvic ring closed for up to 48 hours without loss of pressure. Reduced blood loss and reduced pain mean fewer complications and shorter hospital stays.
Pelvic Stabilization
Pelvic fractures account for approximately 3% of all diagnosed skeletal fractures. The pelvis is a specified anatomic area of the body. It is a complex structure composed of bones and ligaments. The major functions of the pelvis are to support the body, protect a variety of internal organs and blood cell production. Traumatic pelvic fractures occur most commonly at the symphysis pubis, pubic rami and lateral to the sacroiliac joints. Pelvic fractures are most commonly produced by a blunt trauma event with significant deceleration energy. There are a variety of common classification systems in use based on the directions of the forces involved and the movement of the various bones from their normal positions.
The most common causes of pelvic fractures are motor vehicle collisions, pedestrian versus motor vehicle collisions and motorcycle accidents. Other common causes are falls by the elderly, falls from greater than 3.6 meters for younger patients and a variety of sports injuries.
Pelvic fractures present a difficult pre-hospital and hospital treatment challenge and have a very high mortality rate. There is a great diversity in mortality rate secondary to pelvic trauma; studies demonstrate a mortality rate of 5% to 50%. The major reason for this high mortality rate is significant hemorrhage that may occur in the pelvis with minimal external signs. The significant bleeding that occurs with pelvic fractures is mainly due to the presence of numerous major blood vessels that are in the pelvis and the high vascularity of the organs that are in the pelvis. Additionally, retroperitoneal bleeding may be a major complication leading to the loss of up to 6 liters of blood. Because of the high forces required to produce pelvic fractures these injuries are also an indicator for significant co morbidities and concomitant injuries.
Rapid assessment, stabilization and compression are critical to minimizing mortality in the treatment of pelvic fractures. For thousands of years splinting and stabilization has been the traditional treatment for fractures. The use of a sheet, pneumatic anti-shock garment (PASG) or military anti-shock trousers (MAST) and a vacuum type or long board splinting device have been the traditional means to stabilize, compress and approximate the bones of a pelvic fracture. During the last 15 years external fixation is emerging as a hospital based treatment for pelvic fractures.
Another new group of devices for pelvic fractures are Pelvic Orthotic Devices (PODs). Numerous studies discuss the numerous benefits of Pelvic Orthotic Devices. The most obvious benefit is that they can be applied rapidly, even in the prehospital environment, to compress the pelvis, stabilize the bones and rapidly limit blood loss.
The Pyng Medical T-POD® is a device that enables the user to rapidly, safely and effectively stabilize the pelvis. The T-POD® can be applied by a single person and provides uniform circumferential compression to the pelvic region to stabilize the area, reduce blood loss and manage pain.
