new assistants for surgeons
TRANSCRIPT
NEW ASSISTANTS FOR SURGEONS Sara Bakhshi
Technology use in medical operations
3D PRINTING
Old…
New!
Cortex
• The first is 3D printed casts with ample air spaces to allow the victim’s skin to breathe and reduce the itching that usually surfaces a while after the cast is put on
• Jake Evill dubs his project, Cortex, an exoskeleton rather than a cast. First, an x-ray of the injured limb is performed. Next, a scan of the exterior of that same limb is made. Finally, based on both of the above, a suitably stiff-but-flexible 3D print is made. The result is customized to the needs of the user for both recovery and comfort
3-D PRINTED PROSTHETICS THAT LOOK FIT FOR A SCI-FI WARRIOR
SO CAN WE MAKE IT COMPLETELY REALISTIC ?
THERE IS A PROBLEM!
What about feelings then?!....
ARTIFICIAL SKIN• One of the many challenges of adjusting to life with a prosthetic limb is that
the new limb lacks sensation; patients can’t feel where their artificial limb is in space, or what it’s touching, so they have to work mostly by sight. Adding a sense of touch could make controlling prosthetic limbs easier and more natural – but that’s a challenge for engineers.
• The nerve endings in human skin are very sophisticated, low-power circuits that turn physical pressure on the skin into a digital signal in the brain. Those signals in the brain create our sense of touch. It’s difficult to build an electronic version of such a complex system, but Stanford University electrical engineer Benjamin C. K. Tee and his colleagues believe they’ve made a step in the right direction. They have developed a receptor system called Digital Tactile System or DiTact which could one day give prosthetic limbs artificial skin with a sense of touch.
Digital Tactile SystemDiTact’s sensors are sensitive to the same range of pressure as human skin. “It is sensitive to very light touch, such as the weight of a grain of salt,” said Stanford University chemical engineer Zhenan Bao, a co-author on the DiTact study. Using carbon nanotubes, his team had previously developed a very sensitive pressure sensor that was also flexible enough to use in artificial skin. Now they just needed the sensors to turn pressure into a digital signal to neurons in the brain.
MAKING ORGANS WITH 3D PRINTERS
SAVING LIVES WITH 3D PRINTING
HEART!
4-Year-Old Girl’s Life Saved Thanks to 3D-Printed Heart Model
ADAENELIE GONZALEZ AT MIAMI CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL
Four-year-old Adaenelie Gonzalez has had quite a journey. Born with a rare congenital heart disease called total anomalous pulmonary venous connection, she already had two open heart surgeries before she was six months old. The problem was that the veins and arteries to and from her heart were missing, meaning she wasn’t getting enough oxygen into this vital organ.
Her parents were out of hope that the doctors would be able to help her. Her doctors at Miami Children’s Hospital thought her days were numbered, until they could better imagine the procedure with a 3D-printed heart model in their hands.
When planning a third, unprecedented open heart surgery, Director of Cardiovascular Surgery Dr.
Redmond Burke and pediatric cardiologist Dr. Nancy Dobrolet were able to visualize the
procedure with a 3D-printed heart model, based on a scan of Adaenelie’s heart and designed
using Materialise’s Mimics Innovation Suite software. This model is an exact replica of her heart,
showing every little nerve and artery. After seeing the model, Dr. Burke said, “This is beautiful.
I think I can save her because I can see what her heart is going to look like when I open
her up.”
3D PRINTED DRUGS TO PERSONALIZE MEDICINE
• While the institute has patented 3D printing technology for applications in various fields, Aprecia Pharmaceuticals has the exclusive rights to the technology for pharmaceutical use. The company successfully developed the world’s first 3D-printed drug last year. Spritam is a drug for treating seizures in epileptic patients and was printed by sandwiching a powdered form of the drug between liquids and then bonding them.
THE NEWEST DEVICE RELEASED
vitastiq
$49,000
Vitastiq is preparing to launch a new portable device that measures your body’s vitamin content by passing a sensor over your skin. It works with a smartphone app that shows you whether you need more vitamins and minerals.
ORIGAMI USAGE IN SURGERIES
ORIGAMI USED TO MINIATURIZE, IMPROVE SURGICAL TOOLS, MEDICAL IMPLANTS
ROBOTIC SURGERY
DA VINCI SURGICAL
ROBOT
WHAT IS DA VINCI SURGERY?
With the da Vinci Surgical System, surgeons operate through just a few small incisions. The da Vinci System features a magnified 3D high-definition vision system and tiny wristed instruments that bend and rotate far greater than the human hand. As a result, da Vinci enables your surgeon to operate with enhanced vision, precision and control.The da Vinci System represents the latest in surgical and robotics technologies. Your surgeon is 100% in control of the da Vinci System at all times. da Vinci technology translates your surgeon’s hand movements into smaller, precise movements of tiny instruments inside your body.
THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTIONApril-2016QUMSSara Bakhshi