Automated Portable Ultrasound for Rapid Vascular Assessment in Combat Casualty Care: Moonrise Medical Inc.

The Problem

Vascular injuries sustained in combat remain among the most time-critical and life-threatening challenges in military trauma care. When blood flow to an injured limb is not rapidly assessed and restored, the consequences can be catastrophic, ranging from permanent disability and limb loss to death. In far-forward and austere operational environments, military medical providers routinely lack access to the advanced imaging modalities, such as computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), that are standard in civilian trauma centers. Conventional ultrasound systems, while clinically valuable, are poorly suited for these settings: they are bulky, power-intensive, and demand a high level of operator expertise that is rarely available at the point of injury. Medics and surgeons must often rely on clinical judgment alone to determine whether a limb requires urgent vascular intervention or whether blood flow has been successfully restored following surgery or tourniquet release. These knowledge gaps introduce dangerous delays in diagnosis and decision-making that directly reduce survivability, increase amputation rates, extend recovery timelines, and diminish long-term Warfighter readiness and force effectiveness.

Project Highlight

With support from MTEC and its Government partners, Moonrise Medical Inc. is developing an automated, portable ultrasound system purpose-built to detect and continuously monitor blood flow in injured extremities without requiring specialized ultrasound training or expertise. The system integrates proprietary ultrasound hardware with intelligent, automated software algorithms capable of autonomously locating vessels and characterizing flow status in real time. Unlike conventional ultrasound platforms that demand skilled sonographers, the Moonrise system is engineered from the ground up for the unique demands of combat casualty care: compact form factor, minimal size, weight, and power (SWaP) requirements, and simplified one-handed operation under austere field and surgical conditions. Since receiving MTEC support, the Moonrise Medical team has made significant advances in prototype hardware development and automated vessel-localization software. Proof-of-concept validation on benchtop models has confirmed the technical feasibility of the core sensing and detection approach, establishing a critical foundation for translation into military trauma environments. These results represent meaningful progress toward a deployable system that can provide actionable vascular assessment at the point of injury and throughout the continuum of far-forward care.

Impact & the Role of MTEC

If successfully developed and fielded, the Moonrise Medical system has the potential to meaningfully transform combat casualty care by enabling earlier and more accurate diagnosis of vascular injuries, accelerating critical triage decisions, and providing real-time blood flow monitoring throughout battlefield resuscitation and surgical procedures. By eliminating the dependence on specialized ultrasound expertise, the technology could extend advanced vascular assessment capabilities to far-forward positions and resource-constrained environments where such tools have historically been unavailable. The downstream impact on Warfighter outcomes could be substantial, including higher limb salvage rates, reduced rates of long-term disability, and improved recovery trajectories for injured Service Members. Support from MTEC and its Government partners has been instrumental in accelerating the pace of development, enabling the team to move from concept to prototype and positioning the technology for future preclinical validation, regulatory engagement, and military transition pathways. Looking ahead, the platform also holds strong potential for dual-use applications in civilian trauma centers, emergency medicine, and vascular disease management, amplifying the long-term societal return on this investment in military medical innovation.