After thousands of years of trial and error and medical experimentation, some of the most fundamental medical and surgical problems have remained unsolved. The Oregon Medical Laser Center (OMLC) has developed a unique culture of scientific and engineering creativity to solve these problems that combines a focused multi-disciplinary, collaborative longitudinal approach that spans the complete spectrum of the medical problem – from the patient to the healer, and from the bedside to the basic scientists and engineers (who create and test solutions) and the industrial commercial resources that bring the technology to clinical utility.
Stopping bleeding was just as important in the bronze age as it is in the computer age. Until scientists at OMLC developed a revolutionary hemorrhage control dressing from shrimp shells that stops bleeding instantly, 21rst century healers used the same cloth dressings the Greeks used 3000 years ago (with similar results). At OMLC we have set our sights on fundamental medical and surgical issues such as wound healing after injuries, burns, or replacement of tissues lost to trauma, disease and aging. Every human and every healer faces these fundamental problems. In this country, heart attack, cancer and stroke were the top causes of death and disability 20 years ago – there is a great need for new innovative solutions.
Since its opening in 1991, OMLC has invented and developed a broad spectrum of technologies that span almost all medical and surgical disciplines: lasers to treat strokes and heart attacks, medical lasers to diagnose and treat cancer, and lasers to instantly heal and seal wounds. Ten years ago the OMLC initiated the Battlefield Surgical Research Program dedicated to saving the life of the injured soldier, and then repairing the injury to return the soldier’s life to normal. For the first time in military history, bleeding deaths on the battlefield (Iraq and Afghanistan) have been effectively reduced. The program’s invention of a bandage made from a shrimp-shell compound called Chitosan is credited for this achievement. The bandage is now carried by every soldier and shows great promise in the civilian world for surgical and emergency medical uses.
The Battlefield Surgical Research Program is also developing promising human recombinant extra-cellular protein biomaterials for tissue replacement for arteries, urology, stomach and intestinal replacement. Regeneration of tissues using the patients own stem cells has been studied by OMLC investigators for nearly 10 years to create the possibility of regenerating arm and leg tissues lost to blast injuries on the battlefield. This adult stem cell research is also being applied to patients having heart failure caused by loss of heart tissue due heart attacks.
Our entire approach – from our people to our facilities and to the equipment we invest in – is aimed at transforming ideas into tangible, practical solutions that save lives. My biggest thrill is the moment when our ideas leap from the lab to the patient’s bedside. In this way, we support the overall Providence Mission to provide compassionate and excellent care for our patients locally and worldwide. I tremendously appreciate your interest in and support of our efforts.
About Oregon Medical Laser Center
OMLC was the first to use laser energy to stop strokes and heart attacks in progress in a FDA-approved clinical trial.
OMLC created the world’s first replacement for diseased heart arteries made from a natural protein called elastin.
We have developed new tissue-fusion techniques that can replace sutures and staples in treating liver and spleen injuries.
We are proving that heart stem cells from adult patients can be ‘taught’ to become new artery cells, which can replace damaged heart muscle or regenerate the tissue of other injured body parts.
OMLC is a hybrid research institution, leveraging the best qualities and practices of academic research entities with the best of private biomedical research firms. By breaking from traditional organizational models of medical research, we stir the pot for the sake of achieving a fluid and nimble discovery process.
