Estimating Blood Volume in Children

Dehydration or loss of blood volume, as a result of trauma or illness, is a common and sometimes life-threating condition. Dehydration affects 30 million children annually and accounts for 400,000 pediatric emergency room visits in the United States. Accurate estimation of blood loss is also extremely important for paramedics who often arrive at the scene of an accident and are faced with life-or-death decisions of how and when to treat trauma patients with fluid therapy and blood transfusions. This research effort focuses on utilizing novel signals, measurements, and analysis algorithms that quickly result in key information for physicians and trauma teams about the extent of blood or volume loss.

Clinical collaborators:

Dr. Patrick Bonasso, MD, UAMS College of Medicine Administration, Little Rock, AR

Dr. Kevin Sexton, MD, UAMS Department of Surgery, Division of Trauma, Critical Care, and Acute Care Surgery, Little Rock, AR

Dr. Jingxian Wu, PhD, Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR