Week 5: Teagan

This week again was more research-focused. I took the components of the 3D printed device I printed last week, removed the supports from them, and got to work assembling the end device. I also printed the base to be able to place the device in the Faxitron machine; printing the base took approximately 9 hours. I then got the chance to test the edits I made to the device on real, anesthetized mice. We first started with imaging on mice with non-amputated male limbs, and those images came out very clearly with consistent limb orientation and joint angling. However, when we moved to the amputated mice, they were female and much smaller than the mice I had been practicing on, so I need to make some edits to my current design to account for the smaller size. Namely, moving all of the components higher up on the base to reach and properly hold the foot and the amputated nub of the mouse. Also, I learned I need additional support for better angling the femur on the amputated side of the body. I will likely take the design shape that is used for the foot support and rearrange the components so that it can work for the femur. Another problem that I would like to overcome is that the connections between components in the device were made with metal screws, which show up on x-ray imaging, so finding some sort of plastic alternative to fasten components together would be helpful. However, for a first iteration, the device worked quite well!  

I also got the chance to go to the clinic, many of the cases we saw were post-operative follow-ups, and many of the patients that we saw were completely pain-free, and because of that, quite happy with how their surgeries turned out. It was nice to see so many happy patients in a row. Additionally, there were a few follow-ups on custom implant cases, and it is interesting to hear about the design process that goes into manufacturing one-of-a-kind implants for these patients.