Athena Gtx, Inc. — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: N171-002

Description

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is the signature injury of current conflicts accounting for approximately 20-25% combat casualties. Commercially, it is the primary cause of worldwide morbimortality in people under 45 years old. In the USA, TBI is estimated to be 1.5 million cases annually, resulting in over 50,000 deaths which is similar to European numbers. Today, a specific prehospital treatment remains lacking and clear clinical strategy is controversial. Cell damage is not only produced by the initial trauma itself but by a series of resultant pathophysiological mechanisms that are initiated almost immediately and perpetuate the damage caused by the initial trauma.<br>This effort will design a hypothermic delivery system which includes nasopharyngeal PFC cooling with closed loop control in a lightweight, mobile package for first responders. Closed loop control will be based on non-invasive vital signs measurements. Technology today presents innovative methods to obtain a variety of efficacy measures available including heart rate complexity, cardiac output, EEG, EEG, r-SO2 and dynamic trending of state assessment. Connectivity between current USN/Marine wearable medical sensing platforms and a novel therapy for TBI suggest a pre-hospital solution specifically for the POI environment.