ARANZ Medical works up handheld wound monitor

While the sheer thought of gauging the depth of a flesh wound may make some folks queasy, ARANZ Medical is making the entire process a whole lot easier for nurses and patients alike. Thanks to the Silhouette Mobile, medical personnel are now able to receive data about a wound's width and depth without using any sort of physical probe, as the $6,000 handheld is able to extract the aforementioned information via lasers. Additionally, the measurements can be stored and charted, which enables a patient and his / her caregivers to easily track the progress of an injury. Interestingly enough, the Silhouette camera was previously used to "help digitize and animate Gollum from The Lord of the Rings, which easily makes this one of the most bizarre industry leaps that our feeble minds can recall.

[Via MedGadget]
Read - Film technology applied to wounds
Read - Video of the Silhouette Mobile in action

[Arthur Nonamiss @ Aug 24th 2007 9:13AM]

Now, if it could only heal the wound, we would be living in Star Trek. :)

[strider_mt2k @ Aug 24th 2007 9:16AM]

Wow.
Freakin' Star Trek stuff.

'bout time!

[Henri @ Aug 24th 2007 9:28AM]

funny the first thing on my mind was StarTrek too :P looks cool though a Medical tricorder :)

http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Medical_tricorder

[Jeff @ Aug 24th 2007 9:31AM]

What they DON'T tell you is that this unit is still in beta testing and it actually CAUSED this wound! They need to tweak the laset power back a little bit. Oops....

[strider_mt2k @ Aug 24th 2007 9:59AM]

They assured everyone however that the accident was caused by a new technician who reportedly "had the silly thing in reverse".

Representatives could not be reached for comment.

[DT @ Aug 24th 2007 10:21AM]

As a physician, this device is ridiculous. Every doc knows how to measure and evaluate a wound, and nurses certainly SHOULD know how to do it. If they don't, they need more/better training, not a $6k device which will further raise medical costs.

This is COMPLETELY unnecassary!

[ShaolinDolemite @ Aug 24th 2007 10:54AM]

Don't you bag on our Star Trek dreams you bastard!

[strider_mt2k @ Aug 24th 2007 11:06AM]

But if you AREN'T trained, what then Doctor Smartypants?

Just like defibs, these things could help non-trained folks help save lives.

Or at least treat nasty boo-boos.

[DT @ Aug 24th 2007 11:32AM]

"So what if you aren't trained..."

If the wound needs more than just a Band Aid, then you need to get yourself to a doctor or hospital for evaluation AND treatment.

What are you suggesting? That people should keep a $6k device in their medicine cabinet so they can decide if they need treatment? Trust me, if you see a wound that needs attention, you'll know it. This device won't treat wounds, and the anaology to an AED (automated external defibrillator) is silly; AEDs diagnose AND treat an acutely life-threatening conditions. Wounds can wait until you get to a trained professional. Ventricular fibrillation cannot.

[mb @ Aug 24th 2007 1:16PM]

Luddite doctors? In MY internets?

Seriously, get over yourself. Any piece of technology that could more accurately diagnose a wound or control for human error should be embraced, not bitched about.

[Wwhat @ Aug 24th 2007 1:46PM]

Plus it's good for the disaster response box, allows volunteers to triage for instance.
And since it measures skin lesions it's also good to see if something is growing, for which they apparently now still use the old 'draw a circle around it with a pen' technology.
And as it says, it also measures depth, that's a bit painful and possibly inaccurate and unhygienic to do manually I'm guessing, and can cause crosscontamination.

[Kamokazi @ Aug 24th 2007 10:22AM]

Hmmm...so I can replace the fake tricorder program on my Axim? Awesome.

[strider_mt2k @ Aug 24th 2007 11:29AM]

NEVER!

[targ8ter @ Aug 24th 2007 12:02PM]

And actually, the Silhouette camera was first used by NZ meat packers to check beef and mutton carcasses for shrinkage, so it went from that, to Gollum, to wound checking. I'm not sure which of those is the more bizarre industry leap...

[Bad Beaver @ Aug 24th 2007 12:02PM]

He's dead, Jim!

[Gtaste2007 @ Aug 24th 2007 9:05PM]

wow, that wound looks like what I have on the base of my penis!

[Daimyo Nintendo @ Aug 28th 2007 11:31AM]

Well DT is right this is ridiculous for trained physicians and any person who does no know how to measure a wound should simply take this person right to a hospital or call 911..
@ strider_mt2kthis this device will not save lives like a defib..a defib bam a little juice back in the heart..but you still take the person to the hospital…...this scanner ..ok you have measured the wound..now what..can you sew it up? Do you have the tools and bandages to treat the wound? How does measuring a wound save a life like a defib huh?
...but being a star trek fan and aspiring....if we dont build devices like this now..then how else do we make better devices with more functions.