The U.S Army Medical Research and Materiel Command http://mrmc.amedd.army.mil has developed a first-of-its-kind endovascular device referred to as the ER-ROBOA™ catheter to help control hemorrhage and resuscitation, Pryor Medical Devices www.pryomedical.com has announced that the company has received FDA www.fda.gov clearance for sales and distribution.
The idea originated at the 59th Medical Wing at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas with the help of a joint collaboration of medical and non-medical professionals. The ER-ROBOA catheter recently had its first known use by a military surgeon working at a civilian trauma center where a gun-shot victim was resuscitated after nearly bleeding to death. The device was able to slow the blood flow to the injury while allowing blood flow to continue to vital organs and other body parts.
The team at Pryor realized early on that existing balloon occlusion catheters were not designed primarily for use by trauma, critical care, and emergency medicine doctors. So the team improved and expanded upon its IP to create the ER-ROBOA Catheter.
The ER-REBOA is small in size which precludes the need for additional surgical repair at the access site, In addition, the catheter doesn’t require multiple wire exchanges and has a soft, atraumatic tip to provide for simultaneous arterial pressure monitoring.
In another project, the Army Medical Research and Materiel Command TBI research portfolio includes projects related specifically to TBI but also to overall brain health. The Department of Defense has funded the development of an FDA approved TBI assessment technology called “Ahead 200”.
This device uses a disposable headset and commercial smartphone technology as an adjunct to standard clinical practice to help evaluate patients who present as having a mild traumatic brain injury within 24 hours of the injury but may have a severe TBI.