SPEEDING COMBAT CASUALTY CARE


“We’re literally throwing the long ball with this one,” said Crowder. “But these kinds of efforts will hopefully enable first responders to offer more complete care.”


‘MOTHER NATURE GETS CONFUSED’ For Dr. Lynn Drake, a faculty mem- ber at Harvard Medical School and the Wellman Center for Photomedicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, both in Boston, partnering with the U.S. mili- tary requires a commitment to accuracy and consistency and a forward-leaning mindset.


EARLY EVALUATION


SFDI surgical camera images show reconstruction skin flaps with normal circulation, upper left, and compromised circulation, upper right. SFDI images enable physicians to make early and accurate assessments of tissue viability for burn and wound management, reconstructive surgery and progressive monitoring of grafts and wound healing. (Photos courtesy of UC Irvine)


“We’ve got about 23 clinical inventions that are now in use worldwide,” said Drake, an investigator with the CCCRP’s photonics portfolio, “plus another 14 platform technologies that have multiple applications, and then I’ve got another 60 things in our pipeline.”


One of those technologies is a


cutting-edge fractional laser developed specifically with the military community in mind. In essence, the laser helps to remodel painful scars by creating thou- sands of tiny holes on the scarred area, which data shows heal faster and cleaner than the original wound.


CUTTING-EDGE CARE?


A clinician operates an SFDI unit, which is being developed and commercialized by California-based Modulated Imaging Inc. SFDI uses the principles of diffuse optical spectroscopy to determine whether burned tissue is suitable for reconstructive surgery. (Photo courtesy of UC Irvine)


“Mother Nature gets confused when she tries to heal a bigger wound,” Drake said, adding that fractional lasers are used in the medical community to reduce pain, minimize disfigurement and even erase some scars entirely. Tat same technology might be used for future skin-grafting efforts and other therapies. Devices for this kind of skin grafting have U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval and are commercially available.


Te Wellman Center has been partner- ing with DOD for 20 years; currently more than 20 percent of its overall efforts


40 Army AL&T Magazine January-March 2018


are dedicated to the well-being of the warfighter.


Te lab is also working to use light to make blood platelets last longer. “Te mil- itary came in one day and said, ‘We need a way of making platelets last longer,’ ” said Dr. Conor Evans, a faculty member at Wellman. “And so now we have a proj- ect underway that we think will extend platelet storage time dramatically.”


Tat research is all the more important given the forecast for future battlefield scenarios where evacuation to external care facilities may not be immediately possible. According


to the CCCRP’s


Hemorrhage Control and Resuscitation portfolio, current investments are geared toward developing an FDA-approved dried plasma product, while the goal for future blood products is to ensure sur- vivability for at least six to 12 hours—a number that jumps to 72 hours for potential prolonged field care scenarios. According to Evans, the early data is “fairly outstanding.”


WHEN PHYSICAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL MEET Back at UC Irvine, the conversation grows subdued as it turns to treating burn injuries. While injuries thought to be fatal just a few years ago are no longer considered as such, burns are still com- plicated by infection and other variables. For Dr. Anthony Durkin, associate pro- fessor at the university and the adjoining Beckman Laser Institute and Medical Clinic, relief for burn victims is as much a matter of tissue as it is time.


“Burns are psychologically difficult,”


said Durkin, an investigator with the CCCRP’s photonics portfolio. “Someone who has a burn wants to know as soon as possible whether they’re going to need more surgery or not. Plus, the longer you


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