Modularity of an Implantable Device for Nerve Regeneration
Team Members:
Dillan Strangman
Sam Carlson
Nathan Gebriel
Nathan Kao
Demyan Davydov
Harpreet Saluja
David Galindo
Mentors:
Dr. Sameer Shah
Abstract
There is an apparent need for a more effective treatment for peripheral nerve regeneration, especially for complete nerve laceration. An upcoming device created by the company Neuretix uses tension on the proximal nerve to promote stimulation for repair. However, the device suffers from a lack of maneuverability to properly be used in most nerve sites within the body and maintaining connection of the nerve to the device has been difficult. A new arm joint for the anchor site of the device was made to promote an offset of 2cm to 10cm while allowing a rotational range of motion of approximately 130 degrees. A new clamp was designed with damping springs and an all new gasket system to accommodate for clamping pins or screws to be used in the OR. Testing on the arm joint was performed by loading the joint with force to simulate the force applied while tissue moved around the device and was determined to have a resistance to forces up to 3.96N in the horizontal and 1.31N in the vertical. The clamp was tested by using finite element methods to determine that the gaskets and damping springs would alleviate loads of the screws. We conclude that this design meets the requirements to allow modularity for the device’s implementation. Future work in this device is to minimize overall volume of the device, test mechanical properties of future iterations of the prototype, and to run test trials for the device in a nerve site.
Abet Addendum
Dillan Strangman
Demyan Davydov
David Galindo
Sam Carlson
Nathan Kao
Harpreet Saluja
The Team