BLOOP
A LIFE-SAVING 10$ DEVICE TO RECYCLE YOUR OWN BLOOD DURING SURGERY.
Blood reserves are rarely available in emerging economies. In 2015, 1.2 Million people died of major bleeding during surgery. Bloop is a reusable, affordable medical device making it possible to instantly and safely ‘re-use’ a patient’s own leaking blood.
I was inspired by a magazine article, which addressed the issue of the missing blood products in developing countries. As a result, 40 million of people can't have a surgery because of the risk of bleeding to death. Due to major bleedings during pregnancy complications over 800 women die in emerging economies every year. In consequence the idea came to me not to waste the leaking wound blood and let it 'flow on the ground', but rather to collect it and give it back it to the patient immediately, so that the patients life can be saved.
INSPIRATION
Bloop works by a simple siphon principle allowing a patient’s blood to flow uphill without pumps. Initially, a blood thinning medicine inside the vessel flows down the tube. This creates gravity, which makes the wound blood flow downwards. The blood is then filtered and discharged in a blood bag at a level lower than the surface of the blood filled wound. As soon as the blood bag is filled, it will be replaced with an empty one and the first unit of collected – and filtered – blood can now be given back to the patient. Depending on the financial and infrastructural development of medical facilities, Bloop can be scaled up and extended to a high-end (yet low-cost by comparison) version, thus benefitting developed countries also.
HOW IT
WORKS
