TOURNIQUET

Typical Number in Hospital: 3

Cost Bands: 3

References:

A simple tourniquet is a strapping or bandage wound tightly around a limb so that it prevents blood flow. It can be used to prevent bleeding during surgery on the extremities or to prevent blood loss from a wound (for a short period).

Automatic tourniquets exist which have inflatable cuffs, similar to blood pressure cuffs applied around the upper part of each limb, and they are inflated to reduce the return of venous blood from the limbs (i.e. to a pressure of about 50 mmHg). The object may be to reduce the load on the heart, and versions exist which automatically inflate and deflate two cuffs so that venous return is only allowed from one limb at a time. A more common use of automatic tourniquets is to prevent venous blood returning to the heart in cases when local anaesthetic is being used for surgery on limbs (Bier's block technique). High doses of the anaesthetic or analgesic can be used in the limb without affecting the rest of the body. Unfortunately there have been serious accidents with these devices and the greatest possible care is required in manufacture, maintenance and use.

Automatic tourniquets may have one or two cuffs, be inflated by a pump, by hand, or from pipeline or cylinder gas sources, and usually have a cuff pressure gauge and regulator.