Vein Viewing Technology Provides Life Saving Imagery For Battlefield Wounded

Applications

• Military and Commercial Significance:
• Military medical personnel have often said that one of the most immediate concerns on the battlefield is the ability to properly insert an IV into an injured soldier immediately after the wound occurs. This same thing has been said by civilian emergency medical personnel, like EMTs, of victims of car accidents or acts of violence. The procedure is especially difficult at night or in environments of restricted light and on patients whose veins are not easily be seen through the skin. The Air Force Research Laboratory's Materials and Manufacturing Directorate (ML) began addressing this concern in 1994.
• Through the research done by ML scientists and engineers, Vein Viewer technology was developed. This technology uses night vision goggles that were equipped with special light filters, developed by the Air Force, that allowed the viewer to see infrared light passing through the patient's body, except in the areas that are blocked by blood moving through veins and arteries. As a result, medical professionals are able to see veins and arteries quicker, in poor lighting conditions and on patients whose veins were not easily visible. Medical professionals having the ability to clearly and quickly see the veins, saves the patients from being poked with a needle multiple times. This is especially helpful for newborn babies that are very sensitive to pain and also have extremely tiny veins. Additional experiments also proved that the needle beneath the skin would also be visible.
• Because the Vein Viewer's technology encompassed such a broad range of civilian applications including emergency medical services, trauma centers, blood banks, pediatric and geriatric care facilities, and a variety of surgical procedures, ML scientists attempted to license the technology to large companies in the hopes that it would become available for civilian use.
• In 2002, ML teamed with InfraRed Systems (IRIS) Inc., who had the skill to aid them in transition of the technology to the medical community. Under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with IRIS to expand and market the technology, ML scientists have put a great deal of time into aiding IRIS with the physics and physiology applicable to the invention, and serving as advisors about various technological issues associated with its usage.
• IRIS continued its development of the Vein Viewer technology and in 2005, they introduced the first commercial product, the IRIS Vascular Viewer at the Infusion Nurses Society's (INS) annual meeting. The Vascular Viewer has four main components; an infrared light source, a light source controller, a viewing scope and a light source masking pad. It allows for the visualization of superficial veins, as well as deeply located veins. The visualization is non-invasive, direct and in real-time.