In Sub-Saharan Africa, 1 in 5 children are admitted to the hospital due to below average levels of oxygen in the blood caused by respiratory illnesses such as pneumonia. Other acute lower respiratory infections account for 1.4 million deaths annually in low resource areas. Pulse oximetry is commonly used to measure oxygen saturation levels, specifically for those with compromised respiratory conditions, to make sure that enough oxygen is being transported to the extremities. Low resource countries face many challenges to access pulse oximeters, mainly due to cost and durability of the device. This lack of oximeters decreases the ability to properly monitor newborns thus putting them at risk for further complications or even death. If a pulse oximeter is available, problems can arise from poor placement of the device resulting in inaccurate level readings. At Baby Ox, our proposed design of an improved attachment system for a pediatric pulse oximeter will result in more accurate oxygen level readings in addition to increasing the availability for low resource areas with its reasonable price.
“ … Fund • Professor Cotter , Professor Loya , Professor Currey • Dr, Michael Mulligan … ”
Abstract
There are 22 million orthopedic surgeries performed globally each year and this number is expected to increase by approximately 6 million by 2022. Within many of these operations, surgeons are required to utilize orthopedic drills to properly insert various implants to facilitate healing within the body. Unfortunately, many of these procedures have complications that result in thermal osteonecrosis or bone plunging. These complications cause the death of bone cells due to heat and the loosening of an implant from drilling through the entirety of the bone, respectively. To help prevent these detrimental issues, we seek to redesign the orthopedic drilling system by effectively incorporating a cooling channel within the drill bit, as well as sensors to monitor drilling depth. Ultimately, this redesigned system will aid orthopedic surgeons in their procedures while simultaneously reducing the number of complications and potential follow-up operations for patients.
Kirschner Pins, known as K-wires, are smooth sharp stainless steel pins used in the field of orthopedics to stabilize bone fracture fragments in their correct position until they have fully healed. K-wires are most commonly used for comminuted metaphyseal fractures of the long bones, and fractures of smaller bones such as the phalanges. The wires are inserted into bone via a drill and the ends of the wire are bent and left outside of the body for easy removal once the bone has healed. The surgeon uses x-ray images to guide K-wire insertion, ensure proper internal alignment, and determine if any adjustments need to be made. The identical and 2D appearance of the K-wires on x-ray images presents orthopedic surgeons with a challenge of identifying, within the surgical site, the correct K-wires to adjust during surgery. This leads to unnecessary radiation exposure for the patient and longer procedures. We are designing a K-wire attachment to be used by the surgeon that gives each K-wire a unique appearance on the x-ray so that each wire can be identified from different imaging angles. Overall our device will decrease the number of x-rays that need to be taken during surgery, thereby increasing the safety and efficiency of bone reconstruction surgeries. By creating a temporary attachment to be applied by the surgeon, both the number of x-rays and amount of time in surgery will be decreased.
During motor vehicle travel it is a near-universal practice to transport infants in a rear-facing car seat, formally known as a child restraint system (CRS). Car seats are subject to heavy regulations, extensive testing, and are safe, secure, and familiar environments for infants. The use of a CRS reduces fatalities associated with motor vehicle collisions by up to 71%. Current devices on the market for pre-hospital infant transport are harness-based and do not utilize these car seats. Aversion to use of these harnesses occurs for a variety of reasons. The device becomes visually unattractive after remaining in storage for long periods of time between uses. As a result, parents instinctually resist allowing emergency medical technicians (EMTs) to secure their children in these harnesses. Our product will fulfill the need for a universal device that can secure an infant in a rear-facing CRS to an ambulance's cot. It will work with the brands of stretchers commonly used within the Capital Region and take up minimal space in the passenger compartment of the ambulance. Additionally, the product will meet federal guidelines associated with CRS use and be intuitive for EMTs to implement correctly. Facilitating the use of the child's own car seat during transport will allow for the continued utilization of a familiar, safe environment.
A healthy person's homeostatic body temperature range is between 36oC and 37¬?C. During a surgical procedure, the patient's body is subjected to anesthesia and a cold operating room that disrupt the homeostatic temperature range and cause the patient to develop perioperative hypothermia. Current devices used to remedy the problem are ineffective, unsafe and limit access to the surgical site when implemented. The goal of this project is to design and prototype a medical device to non-invasively monitor and display the core body temperature of a patient, while also safely providing heat to the patient when necessary. A key feature of this design is that it allows a surgeon to have unrestricted access to any surgical site. This device will incorporate a sectioned design to allow for addition and removal of electric heating components at any location on a patient's body with an emergency shut-off feature to ensure patient safety.
Self-retaining skin retractors provide an open and wide surgical window during procedures without the need for additional manual retraction from OR staff. These devices are prevalent across a variety of surgeries, but in our area of interest, laryngectomy procedures, there are no current devices available on the market. Therefore, the extensive amount of skin and muscle tissue must be retracted manually by the surgical assistants. Laryngectomies are a very lengthy procedure. Therefore, the surgical assistants can become fatigued, increasing the probability of human error when manually retracting these tissues. The goal of our device is to provide a viable solution that will retract the skin and muscle tissues without compromising the surgical window for the physicians so that surgical assistants would be allowed to aid in other components of the procedure. Our device will reduce the amount of operating room time and lower the cost of expenses, for both the hospital and the patient.
“ … Department of Bioengineering, June 2021. ADVISORS: Shane Cotter , JenniferCurrey , and Amy Loya A healthy person’s homeostatic body temperature … ”
Abstract
A healthy person’s homeostatic body temperature range is between 36oC and 37°C. During a surgical procedure, the patient’s body is subjected to anesthesia and a cold operating room that disrupt the homeostatic temperature range and cause the patient to develop perioperative hypothermia. Current devices used to remedy the problem are ineffective, unsafe and limit access to the surgical site when implemented.
The goal of this thesis project is to design and prototype a medical device to non-invasively monitor and display the core body temperature of a patient, while also safely providing heat to the patient when necessary. A key feature of this design is that it allows a surgeon to have unrestricted access to any surgical site. This device will incorporate a sectioned design to allow for addition and removal of electric heating components at any location on a patient’s body with an emergency shut-off feature to ensure patient safety.
“ … Lillian; Lee, Eunjung; De Leon, Michelle ADVISORS: [ Shane Cotter , Amy Loya , JenniferCurrey ] Kirschner Pins, known as K-wires, are … ”
Abstract
Kirschner Pins, known as K-wires, are smooth sharp stainless steel pins used in the field of orthopedics to stabilize bone fracture fragments in their correct position until they have fully healed. K-wires are most commonly used for comminuted metaphyseal fractures of the long bones, and fractures of smaller bones such as the phalanges. The wires are inserted into bone via a drill and the ends of the wire are bent and left outside of the body for easy removal once the bone has healed. The surgeon uses x-ray images to guide K-wire insertion, ensure proper internal alignment, and determine if any adjustments need to be made. The identical and 2D appearance of the K-wires on x-ray images presents orthopedic surgeons with a challenge of identifying, within the surgical site, the correct K-wires to adjust during surgery. This leads to unnecessary radiation exposure for the patient and longer procedures. We are designing a K-wire attachment to be used by the surgeon that gives each K-wire a unique appearance on the x-ray so that each wire can be identified from different imaging angles. Overall, our device will decrease the number of x-rays that need to be taken during surgery, thereby increasing the safety and efficiency of bone reconstruction surgeries. By creating a temporary attachment to be applied by the surgeon, both the number of x-rays and amount of time in surgery will be decreased.
