By David Ponce
This product has been used in battle for the last couple of years and now it appears you can get your own. It’s called the BattleView Infrared Vascular Trans-illuminator and is made specifically for situations where using visible light might get you killed. Like setting up triage on the side of a mountain at night in Afghanistan for example, where lighting your helmet light simply gives the enemy a beacon for your location. The BattleView features 4 near-infrared LEDs running off a single 3-volt CR123A lithium battery. Put it on a patient’s hand (or other body part) and the venous blood will fluoresce making it instantly visible to anyone wearing night vision goggles. You’re then free to get your IV going as if it was broad daylight.
The fact that it’s near-infrared also means that it will
“emit a faint red glow that is visible to the naked eye. The red glow can only be seen from a few feet away and is used for checking power status without NVG aid. The IR emission is very strong, allowing BattleView © to be used as an IR Beacon or area light as well. In addition, the unit also produces heat when powered on. The heat lets it be used as a thermal beacon.
We can’t think of too many civilian applications for this product, but if you can, it’s $500 to own.
[ Product Page ] VIA [ MedGadget ]
