Miniature, point-of-care device for establishing sterile connections in combat environments

The advantages of the proposed device are that it is safe, compact, highly effective, and easy for a field medic to operate. The principal innovations of the device include: (1) the UV device is portable, (2) miniaturized, (3) shielded to allow safe use along with conventional hemodialysis catheters, (4) delivers efficacious disinfection results along the ex vivo catheter lumen that are not technique dependent, (5) disinfection is targeted to occur in less than 2 minutes of UV exposure time, and (6) Using catheters to achieve venous access is extremely important during combat casualty procedures, and they are only getting more important in the 21st Century. Hemorrhage is a major cause of battlefield death, and indeed caused more than 90% of preventable deaths between 2001 and 2011, and rapid replacement of blood volume is thus extremely important to saving the lives of our warfighters. Catheters also are used to deliver drugs, like pain medications. A major problem with catheters is their propensity to lead to infections, namely catheter-related blood stream infections (CRBSI). These infections can quickly become deadly, especially if they are caused by drug-resistant strains of bacteria or fungus. There is a clear need for new, effective methods to