Hypospray

Hypospray
Plot element from the Star Trek franchise
First appearance Star Trek: The Original Series
Created by Gene Roddenberry
Genre Science fiction
In-story information
Type Medical tool
Function Used to inject medication into a patient's body
Affiliation Starfleet

A hypospray is a fictional version of a jet injector. Sometimes it is used as a verb, "to hypospray", meaning "to use a hypospray on (someone/something)".

In "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." Books

A hypospray is mentioned in The Dagger Affair by David McDaniel, #4 in the series of novels set in The Man From U.N.C.L.E. universe.[1] "Yes," said the disembodied voice, "the gas is generally preferable, but is often impractical, such as in the case of one subject in a crowd, as with Mr. Kuryakin. Under these circumstances, either slipping the drug into their cider, or in some situations injecting it with a hypospray..."

In the Star Trek scenario

In the Star Trek universe, the hypospray was developed by the mid-22nd century, as it is featured in Star Trek: Enterprise. Many people, such as Dr. Crusher in Star Trek: The Next Generation and The Doctor in Star Trek: Voyager, are seen to use it.

The real-life jet injector is usually applied at the top of the arm, but the fictional hypospray is sometimes applied on the neck. Presumably when used in the neck it delivers the medication intravenously or intra-arterially and when used on the arm it delivers intramuscularly. The hypospray can also be applied through clothing.

The hypospray is extremely versatile as the medicine vials can be quickly swapped out from the bottom of the hypospray. As the hypospray is bloodless, it is not contaminated by use. This allows it to be used on many people until the supply of medicine runs out.

The concept of the hypospray was developed when producers on the original Star Trek series discovered that NBC's broadcast standards and practices prohibited the use of hypodermic syringes to inject medications; the needleless hypospray sidestepped this issue.[2] The prop used in the original series appeared to be a modified fuel injector for a large automotive diesel engine.

Real-world timeline

See also Jet injector#History.

In the real world

For examples of a real jet injector being called a hypospray: see Jet injector#Web pages using "hypospray" for a real jet injector.

Scientists at MIT developed a needle-free injection system in 2012.[5]

High pressure air injectors have been used by the military as a common initial entry vaccination method since at least the mid 1980s. They need no sterilization between patients, speeding up mass injection of many individuals . They were linked to a bulk drug supply and a sterilized high pressure air supply (air compressor). Far from painless, they pushed in a portion of skin similar to the action of a needle, instead of the fiction of seeping slowly through the pores. Unlike a needle, the hole did not close itself, and usually left a small bleeding wound.

References

  1. 1 2 McDaniel, David (1965). The Dagger Affair. Ace Books. p. 24.
  2. Whitfield, Stephen E.; Roddenberry, Gene (1991) [1969]. The Making of Star Trek. Titan Books. ISBN 1-85286-363-3.
  3. "at". Healthfreelancing.com. Retrieved 5 April 2011.
  4. Vance, Jack (1956). To Live Forever. Ballantine Books.
  5. Burnham, Ted (25 May 2012). "MIT Builds A Needle-Free Drug Injector". NPR.

External links

Web pages using "hypospray" for a real jet injector

These three references are all to articles in scientific periodicals:-

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, May 04, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.