The History of Fluid Resuscitation for Bleeding

Damage control resuscitation (DCR) is a bundle of care first described by Holcomb et al. that is aimed at reducing death from hemorrhage for patients with severe traumatic bleeding. DCR principles include compressible hemorrhage control; hypotensive resuscitation; rapid surgical control of bleeding; avoidance of the overuse of crystalloids and colloids, prevention or correction of acidosis, hypothermia, and hypocalcaemia; and hemostatic resuscitation (blood-based resuscitation). Remote damage control resuscitation (RDCR) is defined as the prehospital application of DCR concepts. The term RDCR was first published by Gerhardt and has been disseminated by the (Trauma Hemostasis and Oxygenation Research), or THOR Network. The history of DCR and RDCR starts well before the inception of the terms. The concepts behind the principles of DCR and RDCR stretch far back into the past. This chapter provides an outline of this history, but it is limited to the fluid resuscitation aspect of DCR/RDCR.