The University of Colorado recently completed a license agreement with Flashback Technologies LLC for CU technology enabling fast, noninvasive detection of acute blood loss volume and prediction of cardiovascular collapse in emergency situations.

Hemorrhagic shock — physical shock caused by rapid blood loss — is a leading cause of death on the battlefield and in civilian trauma settings. Flashback's first product, CipherSensor, analyzes real-time physiological data such as blood oxygen level and blood pressure to detect subtle hemodynamic changes in real-time. CipherSensor's algorithms quickly and accurately detect the early onset of blood loss, continuously estimate blood loss volume, and predict a patient's individual risk for cardiovascular collapse. The technology will enable medical professionals to quickly identify bleeding patients and triage them to an appropriate trauma center.

"The predictive power of Flashback's technology represents a gigantic leap forward in physicians' ability to use continuous, real-time vital sign data to direct the diagnosis and treatment of human disease and traumatic injury," said Paul Tabor of the CU Technology Transfer Office. "We are eager to see how this technology is further developed for use in numerous clinical settings."

The algorithms used in CipherSensor were developed by Steven Moulton, M.D., a professor in the surgery department at the University of Colorado School of Medicine with a joint appointment at The Children's Hospital, and Greg Grudic, formerly an assistant professor in the CU-Boulder computer science department and now chief technology officer at Flashback. Moulton and Grudic believe their platform technology can be applied to a wide range of medical conditions, including intracranial hypertension, seizure monitoring, childhood asthma, congestive heart failure and anesthesia monitoring.

"CipherSensor uses advanced mathematics and machine learning techniques to discover and model previously hidden physiological relationships," Grudic said.

Added Moulton, "Our algorithms analyze streaming vital sign data, looking for beat-to-beat changes that no human could detect. CipherSensor represents an entirely new type of intelligent, predictive medical device."

Further development work is in progress at Flashback, the University of Colorado and the U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with the U.S. Army.