The Air Force is looking to commercialize through patent licensing a trauma specific vascular injury shunt to restore blood flow to an injured extremity until definitive vascular repair can be accomplished.
Extremity vascular injury results in bleeding and lack of blood flow beyond the site of vessel disruption. In this case, priorities are to use hemorrhage control, manage life threatening injuries, and then restore flow to the extremity.
While vessel repair is optimal, austere conditions, life threatening injuries, and medical evacuations often interferes with these options. Sometimes a temporary vascular shunt may be placed in the uninjured segments of the vessel above and below the disruption to restore blood flow until conditions improve and the shunt can then be removed and repair can be performed.
To help remedy this problem, the Air Force developed a Trauma-Specific Vascular Injury Shunt (TS-VIS) which is a breakthrough in managing extremity vascular injuries. The device was designed by combat surgeons and military researchers to enable the device to be applied in different operational environments to help both civilians and soldiers.
So far, the Air Force has filed a provisional patient. In addition, systematic preclinical studies published in peer-reviewed journals have demonstrated efficacy and safety for the early restoration of extremity perfusion using this device.
The Air Force is preparing for early prototype device preclinical studies and is looking to find licensing and commercialization/development partners. If interested, email Dan Swanson at dss@montana.edu or call (406) 994-7736.