PEDIATRIC SURGERY
Given enough
waveform data, the
robot could reliably
track blood loss
physiology from
normal to collapse.
FORETELLING THE COLLAPSE
HOW A BATTLEFIELD ROBOT CAME TO MEASURE A NEW VITAL SIGN
The display of the Compensatory
Reserve Index (CRI) looks
something like a military-issue
iPod. That’s fitting. Conceived
with battlefield technology and
big data supplied by the U.S. Army
Institute of Surgical Research,
and nourished by more than $10
million in defense funding, the
machine’s spartan interface belies
the sophisticated technology and
mountain of data it’s processing
inside. What it’s calculating is, in
essence, a brand new vital sign.
STEVEN
MOULTON, M.D.
The standard set of vitals —
respiration, body temperature,
blood pressure, pulse — is
good for a lot of things, but it’s
notoriously bad at measuring the
body’s response to a loss of blood.
“It’s not about vitals. It’s about
your ability to compensate,” says
Children’s Hospital Colorado’s
Steven Moulton, M.D., and th