The Hemostatic Resuscitation and Trauma Induced Coagulopathy (HERETIC) meeting was hosted by the University of Pittsburgh’s Trauma and Transfusion Medicine Research Center, Center for Military Medicine Research, and the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in October 2022. This inaugural symposium was built on the success of the Trauma, Hemostasis, and Oxygenation Research (THOR) network,1 which collaborated to introduce this meeting focused on advances in clinical, basic, and implementation science in transfusion medicine and trauma-induced coagulopathy (TIC). The acronym, HERETIC, was intentionally designed to encourage the theme of challenging dogma and popular opinion in the science of these important disciplines. The 2-day event leveraged civilian and military partnerships, including representation from the Department of Defense, Defense Health Agency, Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, among others. In keeping with the vision of advancing multidisciplinary science towards the common goal of improved transfusion outcomes, zero preventable deaths from injury, and understanding best practices in resuscitation for hemorrhage, HERETIC included international experts in epidemiology, fundamental biology of TIC, advanced clinical trial design, implementation science, and bioengineering.
The present issue of Trauma Surgery and Acute Care Open contains a number of papers submitted from the meeting, representative of the diversity of topics ranging from non-human primate trauma resuscitation2 to plasma exchange as a rescue therapy for TIC3 to safety of whole blood resuscitation in multiple patient groups.3–6 Additional talks focused on best practices for disaster and emergency preparation, including scale for whole blood resuscitation in trauma as well as for potential combined radiation/nuclear threats.7 8 A synopsis of HERETIC as well as a link to presentations from the meeting is available online (HERETIC | Trauma & Transfusion Medicine Research Center | University of Pittsburgh). With the ongoing mission to advance the science of transfusion and trauma care, HERETIC will combine with the THOR Network to present the next symposium on the state of the art in trauma, transfusion, and hemorrhagic shock on October 6–9, 2024 in Miami, Florida, USA (2024 Remote Damage Control Resuscitation (RDCR) Symposium Overview | THOR).
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Footnotes
Contributors MN and PS wrote and edited this manuscript and co-organized the HERETIC meeting.
Funding This study was funded by National Institute of General Medical Sciences (R35GM119526).
Competing interests None declared.
Provenance and peer review Commissioned; internally peer reviewed.
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