3D simulation of electric and thermal field due to short electrical pulses in hemorrhage control

Uncontrolled hemorrhage causing hypovolemic shock is a leading cause of preventable death. Truncal hemorrhage originating from solid organs is considered as non-compressible. Controlling such hemorrhage may be challenging in the pre-hospital setting. The treatment should avoid thermal damages caused by heating and high electric field. Therefore, non-thermal based technology causing hemorrhage control is still needed. This study investigates the thermal effects of short high-voltage electric pulses for hemorrhage control. Three dimensional models were developed to compute the electrical and thermal fields in tissue. Computer simulation was used to determine the appropriate electrode configuration and the treatment protocol. We determined the minimal, maximal and mean electrical field in different depths of the target tissue for the given electrode configurations. Desirable field distributions can be obtained by changing the geometric and pulse parameters. By choosing the appropriate treatment protocol, suitable electrode configuration and adequte pulse amplitude, the proposed method can be applied without thermal damage while minimizing electrical damage.