Charles River Analytics to build injury-prediction tool for U.S. Army
NewsMay 02, 2017
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. Charles River Analytics announced that it has secured a contract from the U.S. Army to produce a traumatic-injury prediction tool for the U.S. Army that is aimed at reducing the number of preventable combat and noncombat deaths by addressing challenges faced by military and civilian first responders, combat lifesavers, and medics.
The mobile application tool -- dubbed the Ensemble Prediction for Intelligent Combat Casualty Care (EPIC3) -- is built on a combination of components and technologies already developed by Charles River, including the Figaro probabilistic programming language, the Methodology for Annotating Skill Trees (MAST), and the Sherlock platform for rapidly prototyping solutions to collect, analyze, visualize, and reason about a human's physiological, neurological, and behavioral state.
Max Metzger, software engineer at Charles River and principal investigator on the EPIC3 effort, says, “Trauma care providers must quickly screen for potentially life-threatening injuries and then provide the appropriate care. We’re designing and developing the EPIC3 app to predict traumatic injury and other patient outcomes, providing a screening tool for ground medics and other trauma care providers. The app will present medical alerts and guidance to treat the injuries through a simple, easy-to-use interface that tailors itself to the needs and skill level of the user.”
The U.S Special Operations Command has developed tactical combat casualty care (TCCC) standards in order to increase battlefield survivability; these standards have reduced the percentage of preventable deaths. However, TCCC providers still face significant challenges, as during a combat situation, multiple patients may need to be diagnosed and prioritized, physical paperwork is often delayed or destroyed, and some physiological signals may be difficult to interpret and require long-term focused attention. Moreover, some injuries, such as internal hemorrhages, may be difficult to identify and treat on the battlefield.
EPIC3 joins other techniques and mobile applications Charles River has developed to support warfighters and predict traumatic injury, such as the PROMPTER training tool to improve battlefield first-aid skills and the TMT tourniquet training system.
