An ear-based wearable device that taps the body’s longest cranial nerve can boost blood clotting in what researchers are hopeful could be a new way of treating severe bleeding.
That’s according to new data out from Northwell Health’s Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research and published in Bioelectronic Medicine this month.
Scientists from the Institute unveiled data from the first-in-human mechanistic study suggesting that electrical stimulation to the ear could help healthy adults improve their blood clotting.
The central premise is that activating the vagus nerve can work as a “neural tourniquet,” as this nerve influences many bodily functions, including inflammation and blood clotting.
The tech comes from Spark Biomedical’s transcutaneous auricular neurostimulation (tAN) platform, which is set up to engage the vagus and trigeminal nerves through the ear.
This first study assessed two auricular stimulation modalities: transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) and tAN, which combines vagal and trigeminal nerve stimulation.
The researchers found that both approaches successfully activated platelets, increasing their readiness to respond to injury.
“Specifically, taVNS accelerated the initiation, propagation, and stabilization of blood clots,” the Institute said in a release.
The data are early stage, and further trials will be needed to validate the technology's worth.
The scientists behind the study are hailing the approach as a potentially new, non-invasive method of helping in severe bleeding situations, such as from blunt trauma, on the battlefield, or in hemophilia patients.
The device is small and can be carried as part of a medical kit, making it easy to use.
“Imagine a non-painful technology that taps into the body’s own healing powers and saves a person from bleeding to death,” said Jared Huston, M.D., professor of Surgery and Science Education in the Department of Surgery at Northwell and Institute of Bioelectronic Medicine at the Feinstein Institutes, in a statement.
“With this study, we have more confidence that bioelectronic medicine is safe to use for the treatment of bleeding conditions and I hope to conduct additional studies to develop this potential treatment," he said.