Wednesday, April 20, 2005

Body building works out

for company in Ballard

By BRAD WONG
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

It can ooze red liquid when cut, there are ribs similar to yours and trauma surgeons can stick as many tubes and scalpels in its flesh as they want. The thing never complains.

With emergency-room doctors and trauma surgeons required to keep their skills polished throughout their careers, Simulab Corp., a private Seattle medical device company, has found a niche in recent years with its synthetic, reusable torso and other simulation products.

Led by Chris Toly, the 43-year-old president, chief executive and owner, the company says the torso is used in 12,000 medical training sessions worldwide each year. Hospitals and training centers can buy a reusable torso for $23,500 or lease one for up to $3,000 for such sessions. In comparison, a human cadaver can cost up to $4,000.

The torso, which entered the market in 2002, provides an alternative to human cadavers, as well as dogs, pigs and other animals. Doctors can use it to practice responding to real-life trauma, such as gunshot wounds, stabbings and automobile accidents.

Avoiding experimenting on animals pleases animal rights activists and many doctors, who have complained about their use for medical experiments. "I'm very glad about that, but that's a byproduct of our mission," Toly said. "Our main mission is to design and sell surgical simulation models."

In 1998, after working on other simulated body part projects at Simulab, he started hearing industry requests for something other than animals and human cadavers, which can be hard to find.

He and his company eventually came up with the 3 1/2-foot torso, officially known as TraumaMan. After doctors cut through its synthetic skin, they can find simulated fat, muscles, lungs and a pericardium, which is the thin sac that surrounds the heart.

Today, the American College of Surgeons said the torso meets its requirements for medical training courses.

At Harborview Medical Center, which treats trauma patients, the synthetic torso has been used to train doctors from throughout the country, said Gregory Jurkovich, a University of Washington professor of surgery and the hospital's chief of trauma services.

"Nothing is a substitute for doing the real procedure on a real person, but (it) has some advantages over other alternatives," he said. "It has a lifelike configuration, and you're not sacrificing an animal."

He said with some medical techniques, such as inserting a chest tube, the synthetic torso is about 50 percent to 60 percent similar to working on a real body. He noted some drawbacks, such as doctors not having the opportunity to touch real skin during practice sessions.

"Many technical procedures require eye-hand and touch coordination," he said. "The sense of touch (with real skin) is an important component."

Leasing the Simulab torso also is cheaper than using human cadavers, and more convenient than using animals, which require the presence of a veterinarian, said Steven Thomas, trauma program manager at Alameda County Medical Center in Oakland, Calif.

In one case, when the center used two human cadavers, the cost ran up to $8,000. There can be problems, too, with finding enough human cadavers on which to practice, Thomas said.

Also, some medical training demonstrations are conducted at hotel convention centers, making it difficult to wheel dogs or pigs in for sessions. "You can't do this with animals," he said.

SIMULAB CORP.

Founded: April 1994

Top executives: Chris Toly, president, chief executive and owner; Stan Moore, senior vice president of business development; Doug Beighle, vice president of sales

Employees: About 50 (all in Seattle)

Investors: It is a privately held company.

Funding: There is no outside capital.

Sales: The company has been profitable every year since its founding. Its sales have doubled each year since 2001.

Business: Manufactures and sells surgical simulation systems and products.

Competitors: Limbs & Things Ltd. (in the United Kingdom); Laerdal Medical (in Norway)

Web site: www.simulab.com

P-I reporter Brad Wong can be reached at 206-448-8137 or bradwong@seattlepi.com

(Copyright 2005)

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