SPEARGUN

Medical Need:

Though prehospital military mortality rates continue to fall, there is still a need for improved point of injury care, with nearly a quarter of the 4,596 combat deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan between 2001 and 2011 classified as ‘potentially survivable.’ This is particularly true for tension pneumothorax, which is the third highest potentially survivable rate during the Operation Enduring Freedom, and Operation Iraqi Freedom conflicts

SPEARGUN

Novel Simplified Pneumothorax Air Release Guided Using NIRS (SPEARGUN)

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The deficiencies in tension pneumothorax are explainable, which makes them addressable, and gives the medical device community an opportunity to increase the ~36% successful placement rate of point of injury needle decompression interventions.

In response to these needs, Vivonics is developing a light weight, low power, intuitive device that provides minimally trained medical personnel with capability that : 1) helps diagnose tension pneumothorax, 2) aid in needle decompression site identification, 3) automatically controls needle and catheter penetration depth, and 4) helps confirm intervention success.

Disclaimer: This work is supported by the US Army Medical Research and Development Command under Contract Number W81XWH19C0112. The views, opinions and/or findings contained in this report are those of the author(s) and should not be construed as an official Department of the Army position, policy or decision unless designated by other documentation.

Award W81XWH19C0112 is titled: Simplified Pneumothorax Emergency Air Release Guided Using NIRS (SPEARGUN)

Product under development, not yet FDA approved