A Battery Powered, Portable, and Self-Contained Non-Thermal Helium Plasma Jet Device for Point-of-Injury Burn Wound Treatment

Non‐thermal plasmas (NTP) have been shown to be promising for disinfection, blood coagulation, and cutaneous wound healing applications. Unfortunately, most existing NTP technologies rely on bulky and specialized instrumentation which limits their utility for point‐of‐injury wound treatment. Here we discuss the fabrication of an inexpensive, compact, lightweight, battery powered, portable, and self‐contained helium NTP jet device for potential applicability in burn wound treatment directly at the point‐of‐injury or during transport of the burn casualty to a medical facility. Using the NTP jet we demonstrate rapid inactivation of three bacterial species, two of which are implicated in causing burn wound infection. We also demonstrate that application of the NTP jet improves the rate of closure of deep partial thickness thermal burn wounds compared to untreated wounds in vitro (EpiDermFT). The design and assembly of an inexpensive, lightweight, portable, and self‐contained non‐thermal helium plasma jet device which may potentially be useful for point‐of‐injury wound treatment is discussed. Rapid inactivation of burn wound infection causing bacteria and significantly improved burn wound healing in vitro (EpiDermFT) by short non‐thermal plasma jet treatments is demonstrated.