As an emergency medicine physician, Mike Gorn appreciates how technology helps him in his practice and is curious about how the devices he utilizes came to be. He is also interested in practical techniques and devices that can help him serve his patients better. As a general philosophy, the tools he prefers are those that provide the best clinical outcomes, are simple for the clinician to use, are well-tolerated by patients, and are cost effective. This philosophy and the recognition of a clinical need led him to found EM Device Lab to solve a clinical problem shared by all emergency medicine clinicians.
Abscess treatment is common in emergency medicine, with
Incision and Drainage (I&D) being the treatment standard-of-care for hundreds of years. During Mike’s training at Jacobi Medical Center in NY in the early 2000’s, a new technique was developed for treating Bartholin’s abscesses that used a ring catheter that was made with a 7 cm length of 8 French tubing threaded with a 20 cm length of 2-0 silk suture. The “Jacobi Ring” was placed by entering and exiting the abscess through two separate incisions, forming a closed ring when the suture ends were tied together.
The Jacobi Ring demonstrated better clinical performance leading to broad clinician adoption for treating Bartholin abscesses. Seeing the success of the Jacobi Ring, some clinicians began adapting it and using the
Loop Drainage Technique on other types of abscesses. The adapted technique utilized a plastic tube or string which was tunneled through the abscess and out of two small incisions before being tied into a loop. The procedure has been in use for over 15 years and the clinical data is conclusive that it reduces treatment failures, is less painful for the patient, and reduces patient follow-up visits.
Mike began treating all his abscess patients using the loop technique but knew there had to be a better and easier way to do it. In his conversations with colleagues they expressed frustration that despite superior clinical results, loop technique adoption was limited because the technique was more difficult than a standard I&D, took more time, and there was no standardized product.
In 2015 inspiration struck, and he began thinking about a device that could perform the technique simply, quickly, and consistently. Early prototyping yielded the basic design of the device, which was validated through conversations with respected peers. The device would incorporate all the components and steps of the current technique on one device, which would be delivered using a suture technique. Simple and fast for the physician, and less painful for the patient.
EM Device Lab was incorporated in 2016 and the team began full-scale product development on the
Quickloop Abscess Treatment Device. Hundreds of clinicians were consulted during product development to assure the product met their needs and would perform to their expectations. Quickloop was launched in the US in late 2021 and was met with an enthusiastic welcome by the emergency medicine community.
