Nanjing Winice –Company Blog

A tourniquet is a constricting or compressing surgery products used to control venous and arterial circulation to an extremity for a period of time. Pressure is applied circumferentially upon the skin and underlying tissues of a limb; this pressure is transferred to the walls of vessels, causing them to become temporarily occluded.

There are two types of tourniquets: surgical tourniquets and emergency tourniquets. Surgical tourniquets are frequently used in orthopedic surgery while emergency tourniquets are limited to emergency situations to control blood loss.
Surgical tourniquets

Surgical tourniquets prevent blood flow to a limb and enable surgeons to work in a bloodless operative field. This allows surgical procedures to be performed with improved precision, safety and speed. Tourniquets are widely used in orthopedic and plastic surgery, as well as in intravenous regional anesthesia (Bier block anesthesia) where they serve the additional function of preventing local anesthetic in the limb from entering general circulation.
Emergency tourniquets

Emergency tourniquets are used in emergency bleeding control to prevent severe blood loss from limb trauma. Emergency tourniquets are generally used as a last resort, especially in civilian applications, for all blood flow below the application of an emergency tourniquet is stopped, and can subsequently kill the tissue, leading to eventual loss of the limb below application.

However, use of tourniquets is widespread in military applications, and have the potential to save lives during major limb trauma. Analysis has shown that in cases of major limb trauma, there is no apparent link between tourniquet application and morbidity of the limb.