Week 7: Teagan

This week, I saw a couple of new surgeries! One of them was a bilateral knee replacement. Dr. Bostrom does not typically do bilateral knee replacements since the recovery process is slightly more difficult, as you are tasked with rehabilitating two knees at once. Still, this patient was willing to take on this challenge. It was interesting to see how the team handled the case, focusing on one knee at a time; however, the most intriguing part of the process was when they were opening up the second knee while suturing the first. The surgical techs had to be focused and ready to hand off equipment to both teams. I also had the opportunity to watch a couple of shoulder replacements with Dr. Laura Moore, a sports medicine surgeon at HSS. I got to see two approaches to shoulder replacement, anatomical and reverse. Anatomical is used when the rotator cuff is intact and able to provide the necessary support, while reverse is used when there is rotator cuff damage, reversing the position of the ball and socket. Another new aspect of HSS I had the opportunity to explore was the Biomechanics Department. I was able to get a tour of the Biomechanics facilities from Dr. Tim Wright and learn about the work they do with the implants recovered from revision surgeries. 

In terms of my research project, I was also able to make substantial progress. From the design editing I did last week, I was able to print the two new designs I had made on the Ultimaker printer and Faxitron image on them with amputated mice. These designs did much better than the first device I had made; the components were more appropriate in dimension, reaching the limbs of the female mice. We changed the imaging approach for the amputated leg. Instead of trying to bend the nub at the knee joint, we decided to leave the leg outstretched, and this helped increase the consistency of imaging and made the mouse easier to load in the device. I will iterate the device one more time to create a divet where the mouse body sits to prevent the mouse from rotating as easily when positioning on the plastic, as well as brainstorm ways to prevent the amputated mouse limb from rising up from the base when imaging.