Army Developing Simulated Shape-Changing Wounds.

PositionNEWS BRIEFS

* ORLANDO, Fla.--The Army Research Laboratory is embarking on an effort with industry to develop more lifelike wound simulation technologies.

The laboratory recently awarded Simetri--an Orlando, Florida-based medical training and simulation company--a 12-month contract to build a set of moulage, or mock injuries, that change shape to reflect the progression of an injury as it is treated, said Angela Alban, company president and CEO.

Simetri currently makes a variety of static wound simulations for the U.S. military, Alban told National Defense at the National Training and Simulation Association's annual Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference in Orlando. "We'll make anything from pustules, to burns, to lacerations or... gunshot wounds," she added. "Those are static and they don't change."

In the ARL contract, "we can look at moulage that actually changes over time," she said. This reflects an industry move toward focusing on prolonged injury care, rather than merely front-line care, she added.

"We're trying to look at how we can make moulage that will fit in that training paradigm," she said. For example, users could apply a chemically treated bandage or special ointment to the morphing moulage, which would make it reflect what such a wound would look like several hours later in a real-life scenario, she noted.

"You will treat that wound as you should, [and] depending on whether you did it right--or didn't do it correctly or on time--then that wound will change," she added. "We are...

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