Posted on 07/05/2006 9:45:03 AM PDT by Ben Mugged
The US military plans a portable device that uses focused sound waves to treat troops bleeding internally from wounds sustained on the battlefield.
Ultrasound can seal ruptured blood vessels deep within the body without the need for risky surgery.
The lightweight device has to be designed so that soldiers can operate it with minimal training.
Blood loss from wounds to the extremities is regarded as a major, preventable cause of battlefield death.
It's a grand challenge but we're keen to have a go at it
Lawrence Crum, University of Washington The ability to treat soldiers with internal bleeding on the battlefield could prevent combat deaths and amputations, according to a US military presentation on the project.
These occur, it says, due to the delay involved in evacuating soldiers from the battlefield to a surgical facility.
The device would first use ultrasound imaging technology, in particular "Doppler ultrasound", to locate internal bleeding. This employs a physical phenomenon known as the Doppler effect to look for a characteristic signature of bleeding vessels.
It would then deliver a focused beam of high-powered ultrasound to those sites in order to cauterise the damaged vessels.
The Deep Bleeder Acoustic Coagulation (DBAC) programme is sponsored by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
On the battlefield or in the fire rescue truck, if this thing works well this could save a heck of a lot of lives.
Star trek's "Bones" McCoy was using it in the early 60's. Amazing how many of those gadgets are coming true!
Correction: LATE 60's.
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