Leveraging Government Innovation to Provide Mainstream Solutions

The U.S. government has a rich history of sponsoring innovative programs that bring about technological advances that benefit people everywhere. Prime examples include NASA’s space program, which led to products such as memory foam, advances in solar panels, and personal heart rate monitors, and DARPA advances that enabled internet communications and GPS devices. Although the complexity of intellectual property rights and government contracting can be intimidating, there are substantial potential benefits for companies who partner with the government in research and development. In the field of wound care, a new product to treat severely injured limbs on the battlefield has potential to assist diabetics suffering from foot ulcers. The Office of Naval Research sponsored a program to develop a medical device called the Acute Care Cover for Severely Injured Limbs, or ACCSIL, to preserve severely injured limb tissue. It is intended for use by corpsmen/medics/first responders at the point of injury with removal performed later by doctors and surgeons at definitive Medical Care Facilities. ACCSIL is designed to preserve injured tissues in the best possible state for up to 72 hours after the time of injury. During ACCSIL development, there was a need to develop a way to deliver oxygen to tissue in a compact, lightweight form because when a tourniquet is applied to an injured limb, the tissue can become ischemic and further damaged. To address this need, an oxygen generating "pump...
Source: MDDI - Category: Medical Devices Authors: Tags: MD & M Minneapolis Design Source Type: news