Cheap Drug Prevents Deaths From Injury Bleeding - 1 July 2010

Tens of thousands of injury victims could be saved each year from bleeding to death, according to research just released in the medical journal: The Lancet. Scientist studying 20 000 patients taking part in the CRASH-2 trial in 274 hospitals in 40 countries have found that a simple, cheap, drug - normally used to stem the flow of blood during surgery - could save as many as 100 000 lives each year among the more than half a million victims of injury around the world. Scientists Ian Roberts from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and Tim Coats from Leicester University, gave a press briefing in London - together with anaesthetist Jorge Mejia from Colombia and the Director of the World Health Organisation's Department for Violence and Injury Prevention and Disability, Etienne Krug - to discuss the importance of the CRASH-2 findings in terms of saving lives at low cost around the world. Ian Roberts tells Peter Goodwin more about why these findings are important for emergency medicine around the world.