Group Members: Harmeet Kaur, Ayelet Segal, Pabvitraa Ramcharan
Open wounds are injuries with external or internal tissues exposed to the air. The four main types of wounds are: abrasions (skin scrapes), lacerations (deep cuts), punctures (holes in the skin), and avulsions (tearing away of tissues and skin). Minor types of open wounds are usually treated with sterile bandaging at home, while others require serious medical attention such as sutures, skin glue, and a tetanus shot. Overall, disinfection and cauterizing the open wound is necessary regardless of the type of injury. Without cauterization, the wound is left susceptible to the external environment, which may cause infections. Not to mention, the possibility of excessive bleeding. Without proper treatment, infections can lead to a high fever, a wound that won’t heal, lockjaw, necrotizing fasciitis, and Cellulitis. Therefore, the healthcare problem that we want to address is the lack of response time in cauterizing and disinfecting open wounds. That’s because with this lack of response time, open wounds become infected. Thus, the niche of our innovation focuses on the portability aspect of the innovation because many individuals get involved in fatal or serious accidents that cause serious avulsions. While waiting for the EMTs to arrive, a person can bleed out to death. However, with a portable cauterizing laser, these wounds are able to close and become disinfected before the response team arrives, stabilizing the bleeding. This innovation would help save lives and make the emergency response more efficient.
While the U.S. military is attempting to use similar technology, they have not created any such device that may be widely used on the battlefield yet. The Air Force’s research agency, Darpa, has proposals for the development of such lasers but has not made anything available to the public. The lasers that do exists are not widely used yet, still need major improvements in effectiveness, are expensive to create, and result in minor to major infections.
One aspect that those who have already done background trials or observations regarding the idea encounter is, as mentioned before, keeping the wound sterile. Depending on the laser, wounds either become completely healed without the need for further care, infested with bacteria, or scarred from the cauterization process. According to orthopedic surgeon Dr. Bruce Reid and plastic surgeon Dr. Miroslaw Stranc in their article “Healing of Infected Wounds following Iodine Scrub or CO2 Laser Treatment”, they found that using a CO2 laser to heal infected rabbit wounds was much more sterile than using an iodine scrub. However, three of the laser treatments did lead to sepsis in the wound. Although this was a better outcome than the 12 iodine scrubs that lead to sepsis, the CO2 laser may still lead to infection. Hence although more sterile than antiseptics, it is not a full proof laser to cauterize and heal open wounds in the long run. Yet, it may suffice for a portable laser wound healing device in the short run, at least until the patient can seek professional help at a hospital.
Laser temperature is also imperative in cauterizing wounds since too high of a temperature may permanently damage the skin and leave scarring, while too low of a temperature may be ineffective in cauterizing the wound. In “LASERS- The Future of Suture,” Physics Professor Dr. Abraham Katzir and his team from Tel Aviv University have been experimenting with CO2 lasers using infrared fibers on ten human patients who underwent gallbladder removal. Some incisions were sutured while others were soldered with the CO2 laser. The team found that the ideal temperature to create tight bonding and minimal scarring in the tissue was between the narrow range of 60 to 65 degrees Celsius. Yet, this is a small sample size and patient variability might be massive in future trials, especially with variances in wound size, wound deepness, and wound tissue. Therefore we propose increasing the laser temperature proportionally to the wound temperature to minimize the risk of overheating or under heating the tissue.
Biodegradability would certainly reduce costs and scarring, as well as invalidate the need for sutures or staples to close wounds. However, lasers are limited to their extent in penetrating the skin since most can only reach the surface of the skin. This brings cause to wonder how exactly the cauterization laser would tackle the deep wound healing aspect, like bullet holes, of the health care innovation idea. According to BBC Senior Science Journalist Richard Gray in his article, “Is This the End of Stitches? Lasers Close Wounds and Cut Scarring,” scientists at St. Andrews University have created a biodegradable optical fiber that allows laser light to penetrate about one inch into the skin. Within 15 minutes, the green light from the laser would release a medical dye into the wound, which would unite collagen molecules. The optical insert would then be absorbed by the skin since it would not be made of glass.
Unfortunately, this has only been tested on pig skin and not in a clinical setting since there are still many safety concerns regarding the toxicity of the laser healing the wound from the inside, and the absorption rate of the optical fiber material. Therefore, the portable laser should be supplemented by a flexible and soluble polymer based optical fiber that would not require a second surgery if it implants or breaks off into the wound. This would also increase response time as the EMT worker for example, can disperse the laser evenly across the wound.
Lastly, portability is a must. Most everyday lasers come in the form of laser pointers while others, such as those found in medical offices, are heavy and useless unless plugged into a power source.
Our solution to the problem of delayed response time in cauterizing and disinfecting open wounds is a portable laser. As mentioned before, the idea of a laser has been thought of, but there is a lack of efficiency or completion with this innovation. Moreover, our innovation focuses more on the portability aspect, which comes in many forms. For instance, the laser won’t be huge or hooked up to wires. Instead, it would be something that can be handheld or easy to carry. In fact, we are planning to structure the laser in such a way that it can even be attached to a keychain. By making the laser more portable, there is an easier access to the laser when necessary. This helps decrease the danger present in delayed response times with EMTs. Overall, the laser works to cauterize the wounds through disinfection and closing the wound to prevent bleeding out. Of course, this is not a substitute for entire medical attention. Instead, it stabilizes patients during the time between getting injured and meeting the medical professional.
Our laser wound healer has huge potential for success. Our device would be small, user friendly, chargeable in any outlet and best of all, instant! Currently, many laser therapies to heal wounds involve a special doctor’s visit and are used on wounds that have tried, but cannot heal themselves. This device would eliminate the middleman and cure the wound on the spot. There have been previous attempts of other technological devices to quickly heal up wounds, but they have not become mainstream just yet. We will use recycled material to make the products, showing the eco friendly and inexpensive side of our idea.
