Manufactured blood vessels could save soldiers’ limbs on the battlefield

The sight of soldiers returning from overseas with amputated limbs is all too familiar. But now an Indiana company is developing synthetic blood vessels that they hope could save many people who otherwise would need to have an amputation.

The company, Techshot Inc, creates the vessels for human use with the same types of polymers currently used in biodegradable sutures, according to a USA Today story. The material, from salmon fibrinogen, is spun to produce tubes and imprinted with stem cells from the patient’s fat cells. The salmon material is favored as it is 99 percent similar to human fibrinogen and avoids any cross-disease risks.

In months, the body absorbs the artificial material and using the stem cells, creates a natural new blood vessel.

On the battlefield, the artificial vessels could prove useful when soldiers suffer multiple limb injuries that make it difficult for surgeons to use the patient’s own blood vessels to avoid amputation. In 2011, 67 percent of wounds suffered by U.S. soldiers involved the limbs.

The technology could also prove useful to civilian patients, such as diabetics who often do not have useable blood vessels due to the degeneration of their limbs from the disease.

Techshot plans to begin preliminary testing of the technology this year with human trails beginning in 2017.