Vanderbilt University Department of Biomedical Engineering Fetal Stabilizer Design

1
Vanderbilt UniversityDepartment ofBiomedical
EngineeringFetal Stabilizer Design

• Mentor Dr. Joseph Bruner, M.D.
• By Pankaj Desai
• Sandhya Mani
• Also with Faizel Kassam Thomas Hughes

2
Spinabifida ? ? ?

• Most frequently occurring permanently disabling
  birth defect in the U.S.
• affects 4000 pregnancies/year in the U.S.
• What is it?
• Results from failure of spine to close during 1st
  month of pregnancy
• most common neural tube defect
• Results
• bowel and bladder complications
• possible loss of muscle control beneath lesion
• obesity
• skin breakdown
• Hydrocephalus
• shunt

3
Fetal Surgery
4
Fetal Surgery

• Risks/No Guarantees of Procedure
• premature delivery
• possible damage
• Effect of Tool
• 29 open fetal repairs completed (01/08/99)
• 18 states British Columbia
• reduce clutter in surgical field
• sterile positioning of fetus

5
Tool Specifications

• Targeted Age Group
• Exact Dimensions
• limited to 20cm in length
• width of fetus at position 9cm
• Physical Properties
• light-weight
• Material Selection
• Flexible yet Sturdy
• easy to clean

6
Actual Design Implementation

• Codman Engineering
• why???
• AutoCad Drawing
• 3-Dimensional Picture
• Extrapolation
• Piece by piece design
• Printing Problems
• Exact Dimensions
• Different View Points

7
Final Design
8
Other Views

• Side and Top Views

9
Future Goals

• Video Clip
• Working Prototype
• Additional Links