It's a reminder that Necessity is still often the Mother of Invention, albeit a grim one. In the wake of a rash of stabbing attacks in Israel, students at Hebrew University in Jerusalem have developed a life-saving device to cope with pneumothorax – the collapsed lungs.

The condition, caused by chest trauma, involves the collection of air in the pleural space separating the lung from the chest wall, causing it to collapse and causing the victim to suffocate. Pneumothorax is believed to be responsible for more than a third of preventable deaths on the battlefield and in terrorist attacks.

The current treatment involves two steps: a fast needle decompression of the thorax (between the neck and abdomen, where the lungs and other vital organs are located), followed by a 10-minute tissue separation and tube insertion procedure into the chest to drain air and blood, allowing the lung to re-inflate.

“This is a very laborious and technically difficult procedure,” said Dr. Ariel Drori, an internal medicine expert at the Hadassah University Medical Center, “leading caregivers to neglect the second step in favor of rapid evacuation from the scene to the hospital.”

The need for a solution was made evident by a current wave of stabbing attacks that has left dozens of Israelis dead and hundreds of them wounded.

Members of the BioDesign: Medical Innovation program, created by Hebrew University and the Jerusalem hospital, set out to solve this problem. The result was ThoraXS, a one-handed thoracic portal opener that shortens the procedure time of chest-tube insertion from minutes to less than 30 seconds. Its closed knife-shape allows fast penetration of the pleural space, and its mechanical opening mechanism enables rapid and easy opening of a portal through which a chest tube can be quickly inserted. ThoraXS is thus a single-step, rapid life-saving solution for treating pneumothorax.

The researchers included, besides Drori, engineering students Yoav Kan-Tor and Bettina Nadorp, Dr. Liran Levy, a Hadassah pulmonologist, and Chen Goldstein, a Hebrew University MBA student.

Prof. Yaakov Nahmias, director of the Hebrew University’s Alexander Grass Center for Bioengineering, said: “Our students responded to terrorist attacks by developing life-saving medical devices, an approach that is the very essence of our BioDesign: Medical Innovation program. ThoraXS is a life-saving innovation that exemplifies our commitment to helping the local and global communities through practical research and development projects.”

Nahmias added that its annual market potential was estimated at $300 million and that continued investment is actively being sought. The innovations produced by the Biodesign program participants are commercialized by Yissum, HU’s technology transfer company, and Hadasit, the R&D company of the medical center.