Helping Hand

The Helping Hand is a portable, lightweight solution to emergency medical scanning using ultrasound at the scene of an accident. The device uses ultrasound to diagnostically image and cauterise internal penetrative or blunt trauma injuries.

It uses a combination of diagnostic ultrasound imaging and high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) to perform two functions.

1. To detect, using Doppler imaging, any severe blood loss in the body, specifically within the abdomen or limbs.

2. To use HIFU to cause haemostasis, effectively sealing the source of the bleeding, to allow the emergency services adequate time to reach a hospital to perform the required medical procedures.

This is an opportunity for a new systematic approach to dealing with traumatic injury; by providing a quick and efficient indication of life-threatening internal injuries pre-hospital admittance. Not only would this allow patients a prognosis of internal injury before arriving at hospital, but also preventing fatality due to a time delay from transport to diagnosis.