The Customer: The Center for System Reliability has worked
with Wellman Laboratories( located a Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston ) to design and develop a burn diagnostic and laser debridement system.
The Work: Sandia assisted Wellman to turn laser technology into a surgical tool that will help doctors
more precisely remove burned skin and determine the depth and serverity of burns. The heart of the laser debridement system is a 150-watt CO2 laser that, under the guidance of a surgeon, scans and removes burned skin at
a precise depth ( within 40 microns ). Safety and reliability is a big concern – the 150-watt laser could burn through one-inch thick steel in about 30 seconds. The Center for System Reliability helped design safety and
reliability into the system to avoid laser injury to internal organs. Human factors engineering was also carried out to develop ergonomically friendly interfaces between system and doctors.
Key Benefits:
- Improving skin graft takes
- Speeding recovery times
- Reducing healthcare costs
Result: Conservative estimates show the average
cost of treatment for each burn patient is about $20,000. With 100,000 third-degree burn victims spending a million days in US hospitals each year, the total annual healthcare cost is about $2 billion.
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