Star Trek medical device uses ultrasound to seal punctured lungs

A stretcher races through the entrance of a busy hospital. The car-accident victim lies on top and grimaces in pain. While surface injuries looks gruesome, the real medical danger is invisible – internal organ damage caused by being crushed against the steering wheel.

This isn’t a scene from Seattle Grace Hospital, the set of the popular television drama Grey’s Anatomy, but from its real-life model, Harborview Medical Center. Engineers at the University of Washington are working with Harborview doctors to create new emergency treatments right out of Star Trek: a tricorder type device using high-intensity focused ultrasound rays. This summer, researchers published the first experiment using ultrasound to seal punctured lungs.

Hannah Hickey [email protected]

Full Story: http://uwnews.washington.edu/ni/article.asp?articleID=36364