Vein viewing

Researchers at the US Air Force Research Laboratory's Materials and Manufacturing Directorate have developed a device that can be used to locate veins and arteries in wounded soldiers on the battlefield.

The "Vein Viewer," said Robert Crane, a senior materials scientist who helped lead the directorate's research effort, shortens the time it takes to help soldiers wounded in combat - a factor that could save many lives during that "golden five minutes" when a soldier's life may be in peril.

‘According to military medical personnel, the most pressing need on the battlefield is the ability to insert an intravenous (IV) needle into a wounded soldier to administer life-sustaining fluids after a serious wound occurs,’ Crane said.

A critical problem is that prompt insertion of an IV can be difficult to impossible under low ambient lighting or night-time conditions. ‘Conventional methods for finding a patient's veins have had to rely on feeling and visual cues - a guess and stab process,’ he added.