Hasta La Gadget!

MIT doctoral student Danielle Zurovcik has invented a simple hand-powered pump that applies suction to an open wound to help it heal. Her device costs just $3 to make. By contrast, the cheapest portable (and electric-powered) pumps cost $100 just for a day’s rental.

If the words “suction” and “open wound” in the same sentence make you cringe, don’t worry. It’s not quite what you think. This isn’t about pumping anything out of the body. Applying suction, or negative pressure, speeds healing, although apparently there is no tested theory as to why. The best guess is that a sealed wound with a partial vacuum heals faster as the bacteria and fluid are kept away from the wound. That sounds a little screwy, but it does work.

Zurovcik’s pump is simple. A concertina bottle is squeezed closed, and as the plastic spring pushes it open again, it sucks air through a tube connected to a sealed dressing. The hardest part of the setup is getting a good seal, but as this method only requires changing the dressing every few days, instead of every few hours, it’s not a big problem.

Zurovcik has already tested 50 of her pumps in Haiti, and they work. The next big test will come on a trip to Rwanda this fall. Dr. Robert Riviello, who led the Haiti trip, says that the device has “enormous potential” to help “50 million and 60 million people in low-income countries suffer from acute and chronic wounds.”

Better wound treatment for all [MIT News. Thanks, Twitter!]

Photo: Melanie Gonick