MIT Student's Simple Invention May Help Millions Of People

A simple hand-powered, suction-healing pump invented by Danielle Zurovcik, a doctoral student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, may just be the answer to helping people with wounds in developing countries.

While doctors don't know exactly why but applying suction or negative pressure under an area that has been bandaged to cover an open wound, seems to dramatically improve the healing time. They believe that it may be because it draws bacteria and fluid away from the wound and helps keep it cleaner. Also, while traditional dressings have to be changed every day or sometimes even twice a day, suction-treated dressings can be kept as long as three days.

The systems currently available are not only expensive, but also require to be plugged in, which can be a problem not only in developing countries, but any country that has been hit with a natural disaster. While they do have batteries, those only last for a few hours.

Danielle's solution is a cylinder with simple accordion-like folds that is squeezed to create the suction. It is then left there connected to the underside of the wound with a plastic tube that holds it in place. The device will hold the pressure as long as there is no air leak. The cost of the entire contraption is $3USD, compared to the $100USD per day, that it costs to just rent the pumps that are currently available.

While Daniele and her team of students had originally developed the product for Rwanda, they decided to test it in Haiti, following the recent earthquake. The results have been extremely encouraging and the team is now working with manufacturers to create a smaller version - one that can fit in the pocket and remain on the wound unobtrusively for days.

They also plan to make the product as sustainable as possible - by manufacturing it in the developing countries using local materials. Danielle plans to go to Rwanda this fall, to test the new device in the clinics and hopes that it will help the many patients with limited resources, be able to take care of themselves.

sources: fastcompany.com, web.mit.edu