The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project stems from the use of infra-red visualization technology?s ability to offer patients and medical practitioners at hospitals and clinics a cost-effective way to reduce discomfort during procedures requiring peripheral vascular access. The mobility and simplicity of the visual display also allow same solution to be used by patients and health care professionals outside the walls of traditional institutions, and in settings where there is currently limited or no access to them. Missed vascular access attempts are estimated to cost the U.S. healthcare system $6 billion dollars annually, and patient satisfaction is currently tied to Medicare reimbursement. Vascular access is one of the most frequently preformed procedures in hospitals, and the proposed device provides an affordable opportunity for those facilities to improve patient satisfaction across a broad patient population. Blood banks and donation centers rely on volunteers for their supply and the satisfaction of such donors is crucial to their ability to recruit future volunteers or repeat-donors. These facilities are strongly incentivized to provide as positive a patient experience as possible, starting with minimizing the number of vascular access attempts. The device can also be adapted for non-clinical situations, such as emergency or battlefield environments.
This I-Corps project uses the unique interaction of deoxygenated blood with light at near infrared wavelengths to create a live, real time video feed of the patients body with the peripheral vasculature clearly differentiated from the surrounding dermal, arterial, and adipose tissue. This allows for practitioners to observe the physical location of the veins, get an estimate for relative vein depth, and observe factors that are known to confound access attempts, such as vascular movement or rolling. This also allows for superior vein location in patients with physical traits or impairments that make vascular access more difficult. A preliminary prototype demonstrates the claims made and rudimentary testing has been completed to demonstrate functionality in a variety of environments.
