DARPA Wants Cryogenic Technology on the Battlefield to Freeze Traumatic Brain Injury in its Tracks

Protecting Traumatized Brains DARPA seeks a device that could cool traumatized brains and freeze the progression of damage from blasts Phil Sussman/U.S. Army

Blasts from improvised explosives and RPGs can cause traumatic brain injuries among soldiers, which can leave permanent damage. Sounds like a challenge for the Pentagon's mad science lab DARPA, which has issued a call for a brain freeze device that could stop the after-effects of brain trauma in its tracks, Wired's Danger Room reports.

Related Articles

	Shock to the System
	Armored Airbags to Protect Vehicles from RPGs and Roadside Bombs
	New Unmanned Chopper Sniffs Out Improvised Explosives While Looking Adorable

Tags

Technology, Jeremy Hsu, blasts, darpa, explosions, explosive devices, freeze, ieds, injuries, mad science, soldiers, tbi, trauma, traumatic brain injury, warfighters

We here at PopSci also previously examined these devastating effects on the lives of warfighters, long after their combat tours.

Past studies have shown how cooling the brain can dramatically protect humans suffering from strokes or aneurysms, and so DARPA wants to apply the same solution to traumatic brain injuries. The trick involves finding the right cooling temperature to slow trauma's ripple effect, but without causing damage to the brain through freezing -- a difficult task given that such a temperature may differ depending on the individual warfighter and his or her injury.

A combat-deployable device would ideally contain closed-loop feedback to regulate the temperature, as well as a quick diagnosis approach that could determine the best temperature. So any would-be medical saviors, put on your thinking caps and get to work.

[via Danger Room]