K. Mhetre
University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 98195
A. Shasheendra
University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 98195
N. White
Department of Surgery, Harborview Medical Centre, University of Washington Seattle,WA, USA
Shahram Aarabi
Department of Surgery, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
X. Wang
Department of Surgery, Harborview Medical Centre, University of Washington Seattle, WA, USA
J. O. Germany
University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 98195
Ashley F. Emery
University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195
The effectiveness of biomedical devices can often be determined by developing testing sites and operating procedures in humans. For ischemia this is rarely the case since ischemia is generally caused by problems with blood vessels and often leads to resultant damage to or dysfunction of tissues and blood loss. To reduce blood loss, a tourniquet may be used. If the tissue is surgically treated quickly then the final negative effects may be reduced. Unfortunately the limb may often be amputated. One possible treatment is to lower the temperature of the bodily tissue while the tourniquet is in place. The question is how to cool the limb with a tourniquet applied, taking into account the heat flow from the main part of the body to the limb and the heat transfer to the chilling sleeve. The paper describes the development of a thermal phantomof a human leg with a tourniquet, an air splint, and a chilling sleeve. A major question is how much heat is transferred to the cooled limb from the human body and how to eliminate freezing of the skin surface while cooling the nerves. Data is
presented to indicate what cooling is needed and the time duration of cooling. A thermal phantom is built and cooled. The temperature histories of installed thermocouples are compared to values computed using a finite element program with a volume mesh based upon CT scans of a human leg.