Section 1: Revolutionizing Pain Assessment with Innovative Device
Children’s National Hospital is spearheading a transformative approach to pain assessment, backed by an $8-million award from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health ARPA-H Sprint for Women’s Health. Traditional pain assessment methods, often reliant on subjective visual scales featuring smiling or crying faces, have long been criticized for their imprecision. The new device, called the AlgometRx Nociometer, aims to provide a more accurate and objective way to measure pain. This groundbreaking tool is designed to improve pain management, particularly for women, whose pain has historically been underestimated and undertreated.
The ARPA-H Sprint for Women’s Health Initiative is dedicated to tackling health issues that disproportionately affect women, as well as fostering innovations that address critical unmet challenges in healthcare. With collaborators from Johns Hopkins University and Medstar Research Institute, the team at Children’s National, led by Dr. Julia Finkel, a pediatric anesthesiologist, is working to further develop the Nociometer. The $8-million grant, distributed over two years, will be used to enhance the tool’s capacity to measure pain more precisely, benefiting patients of all ages.
Section 2: Nociometer’s Impact on Pain Measurement
The Nociometer uses noninvasive technology and algorithms to measure pain response through pupil dilation and stimulation of select nerves. In less than one minute, the device collects data that can provide a comprehensive profile of how a patient’s nervous system processes painful stimuli. This data can quantify pain intensity and type, and also assess the effectiveness of pain-relief medications. According to Dr. Finkel, the Nociometer offers immense potential for populations that have traditionally struggled with pain assessment, such as the elderly, nonverbal, and pediatric patients.
Developed over nine years at the Sheikh Zayed Institute for Pediatric Surgical Innovation (SZI) and Dr. Finkel’s spin-out company, AlgometRx, the Nociometer has garnered commercialization support from Children’s National Innovation Ventures. Dr. Finkel emphasized that this technology is particularly significant in addressing gender differences in pain experiences, a long-overlooked area in healthcare. The ability to quantify pain accurately could lead to more targeted and effective treatments in a wide range of medical settings.
Section 3: The Future of Pain Management and Women’s Health
The ARPA-H Sprint for Women’s Health received an unprecedented number of submissions when it launched in February, with First Lady Jill Biden announcing the funding as part of the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research. The initiative is conducted in collaboration with ARPANET-H’s Investor Catalyst Hub, a network designed to accelerate health innovation across the country. As part of this program, Children’s National will work with ARPA-H and the Investor Catalyst Hub over two years, receiving milestone-based payments to advance their research and bring the Nociometer closer to commercialization.
In addition to funding, the ARPA-H launchpad program provides crucial support for transitioning health solutions from research to market. Dr. Finkel will participate in the Launchpad Accelerator, which offers a customized curriculum, virtual events, and workshops. This collaborative effort between Children’s National, ARPA-H, and industry innovators aims to revolutionize pain assessment and treatment, particularly for women, and potentially transform care in nearly any medical setting.
