Medical Archive

In response to the COVID-19 crisis, we are developing a mask that offers superior function in a fraction of the manufacturing time when compared to many emerging 3D printed mask designs. The design offers an improved seal around the face that is more comfortable, a more robust/airtight filter housing, autoclavable materials, and a quicker manufacturing method. This will allow local and national entities looking to produce DIY masks a better, faster alternative to 3D printing.

Skin grafts are commonly used for wound closure and are cut with a mesh pattern to expand their coverage area. They are thin, delicate, painful to harvest, and easily damaged during traditional meshing. We observed need for a method to mesh skin grafts that is less prone to failure. Optigraft addresses this problem with technology that not only executes precise cuts without damage, but also measures the wound sites to allow for planning of optimal graft size and expansion ratio.

Brief Description: vasSecure aims to decrease carotid artery dissection rates during Transcarotid Artery Revascularization (TCAR) procedures by improving access and stability. The device allows surgeons to properly tension the artery while distributing the applied force, allowing surgeons to perform the minimally-invasive procedure effectively and reduce the risk of trauma to the artery.

Ten-μ solutions plans to introduce time and cost savings to the operating room (OR) through application-specific single-use instrumentation. Our instrument will allow surgeons to position and tension vessel loops at their discretion.

The MRS is a specimen retrieval device that offers surgeons a way to remove malignant specimens during laparoscopic procedures without significantly widening minimally invasive incisions. The proposed device would use expandable braided sleeving to elongate and radially compress large tissue specimens for extraction through the initial incision. Use of this device would allow surgeons to remove large tissue samples through smaller incisions to reduce patient pain, recovery time, postoperative pain and length of hospital stay.

Identify Near Infrared transparent polymers to simulate human tissue for surgical training applications at UR Medical Center.

A major challenge presented by the COVID-19 crisis is the limited number of caregivers that can attend to the influx of patients requiring ventilators. Our alarm app and sensor system allows caregivers to monitor the real-time performance of conventional and novel ventilators for multiple patients at once. Such data could be used to compare trends in current patient outcomes with previously recorded ventilator data. This would allow clinicians to foresee complications and make more informed decisions in treating similar diseases.

Designing an accurate abscess model for photodynamic therapy testing.

Our project is to design a device that can quantitatively measure the securement of a tracheostomy, therefore, prevent postoperative complications and provide hospital staff with more information for further research. Because of the COVID-19 situation, we have changed our project from designing an actual prototype to focusing more on theoretical mechanisms so that it will be able to be manufactured in the future.

For spinal surgeons who face difficulty visualizing the nerve root during spinal decompressions, the Meramec suction/elevator is a surgical instrument that combines multiple instrument functions to free surgeons' hands and increase OR efficiency. It combines the functionality and familiarity of existing suction tips and manual elevators with end effector geometry specific to the lumbar nerve roots, reducing the need to switch instruments. This improves OR workflow and increases patient safety.

Our team is working to design and develop a functional bladder phantom that sits in a model of the human torso. This model is to be used in the validation and testing efforts of our customer, Curbell Medical’s, bladder bioimpedance sensor device. The model must be anatomically comparable to that of the average human in terms of both structure and function.

Undesired motion of the Sonavex, Inc. EchoSure probe is often imparted during the vascular ultrasound imaging process, leading to undesired artifacts within the collected scans that can render the data unusable.We have developed a device to stabilize the ultrasound probe; in doing so, it will be possible to help minimize additional movement and obtain better-quality images of AV fistulas without as many motion disturbances.