She found a supplier of leeches on the mainland of Japan and sent for them so that they could be put on the young patient's finger to drain the blood. It feeds on the area of the digit needing drainage for about 10 to 15 minutes and falls off. Not only are the leeches an effective medical tool, they're also a great bargain. CAPT Frederick Ludwig, MC, used a colonoscope, a medical tool used to probe the human body, to evaluate structural damage of an F-14A Tomcat. The colonoscope uses a fiber optic camera attached to a slender tube to provide video inside the human body.
Surgeons control the camera remotely, while viewing the video on a monitor.
A hard landing assessment of this type requires the examination of the internal components of the aircraft. One such component was unreachable with VF-211's available tools. Dennis Reilly, familiar with the innovations of naval medicine, suggested contacting the ship's medical department. Reilly asked Gould if there were any medical procedures that could be used to inspect an internal structural beam. Gould suggested using the ship's new colonoscope.