Low Cost Microsurgical Training Instrument

Tiny Tools, Big Impact.

Sponsored Project by Garrison Leach, MD, from the Division of Plastic Surgery at UC San Diego Health

Don't let size fool you.

We aim to improve microsurgical healthcare, recognizing the importance of proper training tools for surgeons in underserved regions. Microsurgery, a specialized field within plastic surgery, focuses on the meticulous repair of injured tissues, blood vessels, and nerves using microscopic techniques. It is particularly significant in cases of trauma and cancer, as it offers a means to restore function instead of resorting to amputation. Surgeons perform these intricate procedures at an extremely small scale, aided by microscopes and precise equipment like microvascular clamps. 

Microvascular clamps are used to hold blood vessels stationary and occlude blow flow so that blood vessels can be operated on. Unfortunately, current microvascular training clamps are either very expensive or ineffective, as they do not accurately mimic the feel and pressure of surgical grade clamps. By creating a low cost, high quality microvascular training clamp, our initiative seeks to enhance healthcare training, thereby improving healthcare and patient outcomes.

Check out our final design for an in depth look at our design process, manufacturing process, and performance analysis. For a brief overview of the project, check out our executive summary. Below you can also find a link to our reports and presentations for further documentation about the project.

Clamping down on the problem.

We aim to accomplish the following for our  microvascular training clamps:

Cost

Minimize the manufacturing costs to less than $5 per clamp. Clamps ideally manufactured at hospital site.

Performance

Engineer highly durable clamps that can last a full year, or approximately 150 uses. Clamps exert the ideal amount of pressure. 

Design

Design a small sized, single clamp, compatible with Rizutti Forceps Applicators. Secondary goals include manufacturing additional sizes and a double clamp design with rails.

The building blocks of precision.

Our final design consists of a one body 2D cut-out from an 18-8 Stainless Steel sheet metal. The cut-out then undergoes a folding process that transforms the flat 2D cut-out into the desired 3D clamp shape.

2D Cut-out

3D Clamp after Folds

Key components:

Other features:

See it unfold.

Here's a video demonstration of the medium foldable clamp assembly.

Required Materials:

The cost of perfection.

Both the small and medium sized folded clamps  can be operated with the Rizzuti Forceps. Since our design consists of 1 body and a simple folding process, we were able to drive down manufacturing costs significantly. The cost of a single clamp is approximately less than $5, which costs about 90% less than current market training clamps.

Affordable without compromise.

Several analytical tests were conducted to evaluate the clamps' performance. 

Small Clamp Specs:

Size: 3 x 4.5 x 11.5 mm

Force: 75.8 ± 25.4  g-f

Pressure: 200 mm-Hg

Medium Clamp Specs:

Size: 3.25 x 6.9 x 15.7 mm

Force: 35.0 ± 9.9 g-f

Pressure: 146 mm-Hg

On average, our foldable clamps exert a higher force than the Acland Clamps. The large differential between our small clamp and the Acland warrants a redesign. On the other hand, our medium clamp faired well against the Acland. 

Compared to current plastic training clamps, our clamps performed on par or better and more similarly to the $500 Acland model, which is the current gold standard in the medical industry. Further documentation can be found on the final design, reports, and presentations pages.

Feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns!