The Type O Whole blood and assessment of AGE during prehospital Resuscitation (TOWAR) Trial is designed to better understand the intricacies of giving whole blood— blood that is not separated into its components—to trauma patients while they are in a helicopter on the way to the hospital. 

When someone donates blood, typically it gets separated it into parts—red cells, plasma, platelets—for long term storage and the parts can be used individually depending on patient need. But when someone is bleeding, they’re losing all of these parts. Trauma research has shown that if you leave these parts together and not separate them it can be beneficial to trauma patients or patients at risk of bleeding. 

The whole blood used in the TOWAR study is low titer blood, meaning it contains low levels of antibodies and can be transfused to people of various blood types. Giving whole blood transfusions to trauma patients before they even arrive at the hospital could potentially provide better outcomes and reduce the risk of death and other problems. 

The multi-center trial is funded by the U.S. Department of Defense. Dr. Brian Harbrecht, Professor of Surgery in the Department of Surgery at UofL and Director of Trauma Surgery at UofL Hospital will lead UofL's participation in a Department of Defense (DOD)-funded clinical trial. 

The purpose of the trial is to answer three key questions: 

• Does giving trauma patients whole blood in a prehospital environment improve survival outcomes at 30 days when compared to plasma, red blood cells or nothing at all? 
• Does the age of whole blood impact patient survival rates? 
• Does administering whole blood provide overall benefit to patients upon evaluation and arrival to the hospital? 
  
  The four-year study will use randomly selected trauma patients enrolled from emergency calls, but patients will be able to opt out of the trial in advance by calling 1-800-664-0557 or using the contact form on the LITES website. 
  
  "The results of this study have the potential to change the way prehospital trauma care is provided,” said Harbrecht said. “If we can determine that whole blood is safe and effective for trauma patients during transport, we can improve the outcomes of these patients even before they arrive at the hospital.”