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Sponsored by: Garrison Leach, MD, from the Division of Plastic Surgery at UC San Diego Health
About
Project Background
Project Background
Our project, sponsored by Dr. Garrison Leach, is a continuation from last year to develop a low-cost alternative to double clamps commonly used in reconstructive surgeries. Microsurgery is a branch of reconstructive surgery that specializes in using a surgical microscope to operate on a small scale with high precision. When one part of the body is damaged due to trauma or illness, another healthy part of the body can be used to reconstruct the damaged area. A regular procedure that occurs in microsurgery is anastomosis, or the connection of two severed vessels. These vessels can be millimeters wide in diameter, which requires an extremely high level of precision to properly attach and minimally damage the vessels. For these life-saving and life-altering procedures, double clamps are essential to secure blood vessels and perform anastomosis. Unfortunately, double-clamps can be extremely cost prohibitive with standard, reusable sets costing up to 500 USD.
Surgeons in Humanitarian Alliance for Reconstruction Research and Education (SHARE) is an organization our sponsor works with that focuses on improving care and surgical capacity in regions with a limited number of surgeons and a high rate of incidences.
In many areas that SHARE works with, it becomes difficult to procure double clamps to train surgeons. Standards ones are so expensive that they are primarily used for surgeries and not for training. Training procedures often have to settle for either heavily used or broken clamps. As a result, it becomes more difficult to properly train surgeons in these areas, further reducing the surgical capacity.
Our Objective
Our Objective
Our objective for this project is to complete the design last year's group began and develop a manufacturing procedure to ensure consistent quality and safety of the assembled products. We are trying to design a procedure in which these clamps can be manufactured for a fraction of the price anywhere across the world, without complicated or expensive processes and procedures.Â
Reduce costs to $10 per set
Assemble anywhere
Same functionality
Small size
Linear sliding
Forcep compatible
Precise clamp force
Final Design
Final Design
Our final design is separated into three major components: the clamps, the dies and the quality control.
Clamps
The clamps consist of:
Handles for forcep compatibility
Jaws to grip the blood vessels
A mount to couple the clamps to the slide
A slide to enable linear movement of the clamps
A spring to open and close the jaws
Dies
Dies
Three dies for metal forming provide the clamps with consistent geometries for precise folds.
Spring die
Spring die
Forms the spring of the clamps at a 55 degree angle.
Clamp die 1
Clamp die 1
Folds the mounting tabs 90 degrees to fit around the sliding piece.
Clamp die 2
Clamp die 2
Secures the mounting tabs around the sliding piece for consistent sliding.
Quality Control
Quality Control
Two processes for measuring clamp force and jaw alignment to prevent excess force or unintended shearing of the blood vessels.
Clamp Force
Clamp Force
The clamp force test uses image processing to measure the elastic deformation of two cantilever beams to determine the force of the clamps. This helps to ensure the force is great enough to grab the veins, but small enough to prevent damage.
Jaw Alignment
Jaw Alignment
The jaw alignment test uses image processing to find the distance between the tips of the jaws of the clamps. It ensures there is no shearing as a result of misalignment.
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