Method and apparatus for collecting and analyzing surface wound data

Abstract

A 3D surface wound, injury, and personal protective equipment (PPE) data entry system provides an easily usable graphical user interface through which an examiner can objectively record data relating to surface wounds and injuries sustained by a subject human, as well as PPE used when the wounds / injuries were sustained. The system includes a 3D human model onto which the examiner draws the surface wound(s) and / or damage to the PPE. The subject human's record is stored in a database of similar records. The database records comprise quantifiable, objective data that is easily compared and analyzed. An analysis tool can aggregate a selected population of human subjects within the database to create wound density information that can be statistically analyzed and / or displayed on a standard 3D human model. Such objective wound density information may facilitate improved medical and / or tactical training, and improved PPE design.

Description

[0001] This application claims the benefit of priority of provisional application Ser. No. 60 / 809,853, filed Jun. 1, 2006, the entire contents of which is incorporated by reference herein.STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT [0002] The U.S. Government has a paid-up license in this invention and the right in limited circumstances to require the patent owner to license others on reasonable terms as provided for by the terms of TSWG Contract No. N41756-06-C5518, titled “Clinical Specification of Next Generation Body Armor,” awarded by the Technical Support Working Group (TSWG) of the U.S. Department of Defense.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0003] 1. Field of the Invention [0004] The present invention relates to the collection and analysis of data relating to surface wounds suffered by a population of humans. [0005] 2. Description of Related Art [0006] When humans (e.g., military and / or civilian) sustain surface wounds (fatal or non-fatal), it is common for a m...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0008] Accordingly, one or more embodiments of the present invention provides a method and apparatus for objectively / quantifiably recording 31) data indicating the location of human surface wounds by drawing surface wounds onto a virtual, parameterized 3D human model. The objective data may also include data relating to injuries associated with the surface wounds, as well as data relating to personal protective equipment (PPE) used by the human when wounded. Such objective data may be added to a database containing additional records for additional surface wounds / injuries / PPEs and / or additional subject humans. The database can then be statistically analyzed to objectively identify trends, patterns, wound densities, etc. for a population of subject humans. The records can be filtered based on a variety of criteria in the records to analyze focused subsets of the records. The analysis may be used for various purposes (e.g., improve medical training for common surface wounds; improve PPE such as body armor for body areas that are commonly wounded; improve PPE design for parts of PPEs that commonly fail, especially where failure results in more severe wounds / injuries; improve tactical training for military personnel to better protect commonly wounded areas of the body, etc.).

[0038] According to a further aspect of one or more of these embodiments, the method includes improving personal protective equipment to better protect areas that the analysis identifies as having a high damage density.

Problems solved by technology

A fragment might come in through the front of the chest and exit the person's back, causing two wounds.

Unfortunately, it is difficult or impossible to objectively / quantifiably compare conventional wound / injury data due to its subjective language and non-quantified description of the location of surface wounds and injuries.

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