REAL LIFE NEWS: SOLUTION TO SPACE SURGERY PROBLEMS
by Hazed
Speaking of long-distance space travel...
Surgeons who cut into their patients on Earth have it easy. Not so in space: consider the problem of blood flowing from a wound when there’s no gravity. It would go everywhere, contaminating the cabin and causing a real hazard.
Given the problem with blood and other bodily fluids going everywhere, there’s just no way to perform surgery in space. This makes any long journeys - such as a trip to Mars - a problem.
So researchers are trying to come up with technology that can help. The Aqueous Immersion Surgical System (AISS) in a transparent box that creates a watertight seal when it is placed over a wound and pumped full of saline solution. The pressure inside AISS stops the blood from seeping out of the wound. Airtight holes then allow surgeons to access the submerged wound.
AISS is being developed by a team of US researchers who have been testing it on NASA’s zero-g aircraft - performing surgery on an artificial coronary system filled with synthetic blood.
If it works, AISS will become an essential tool on future space flights, whether to Mars, to an asteroid, or even for long stays on the ISS.
Source: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21528843.600-space-surgery-possible-with-zerogravity-tool.html
