Scientists explain secrets of trauma at Royal Society summer science show

Scientists and doctors from one of London’s top medical research centre are presenting their findings at the Royal Society’s annual summer science exhibition opening today into how injuries affect the body and why they often lead to death after an accident.

Members of the Barts and The London Medical School at Whitechapel are explaining their study into what happens to the body with traumatic injury.

Traumatic injury is the main worldwide cause of death among children and young adults, they point out. It kills 18,000 people a year in Britain alone, with almost half of the deaths from uncontrolled bleeding.

The team, led by Prof Karim Brohi, was the first to identify a rapid failure of the blood clotting mechanism in one-in-four trauma victims, which is associated with increased blood loss, organ failure and four-fold increase in death after injury. They are now working on how best to treat it.

The free exhibition which opens today (Tues) at the Royal Society in Carlton House Terrace, off The Mall, runs until Sunday.

(Picture Neil Munns, courtesy Channel 5)