Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering Commons^™

Evaluation And Development Of Tourniquet Test Methods, Catherine Pitts

All Theses

Since the beginning of the 21^st century the general perspective on tourniquets has changed to a more positive outlook on their life saving abilities. The US has seen a greater number of mass casualty events, and conflicts across the globe have led to an increased use of tourniquets. The increased demand has also led to faulty counterfeit tourniquets and improvised tourniquets that don not properly occlude blood flow or cause significant nerve damage to the injured limb.

ASTM started designing a tourniquet testing standard with experts in the tourniquet community to cut down on the dangers of tourniquet use. …

Characterization Of Thermal Gelation Properties In Bioresorbable Thermally Activated Hydrogel Polymers For Hernia Surgery Applications, Alexander Mayfield

All Theses

Hydrogel adhesives are a new class of materials with excellent biocompatibility, which makes them very attractive for biomaterial applications. It has been previously shown that Tetronic T1107, a four-arm poly (propylene oxide)-poly (ethylene oxide) (PPO-PEO) block copolymer, is useful as a chemical crosslinking thermo-responsive hydrogel for bioadhesive applications. The end groups of this polymer are modified with acrylate and N-hydroxysuccinimide (NHS) functional groups. The acrylate end group gives the polymer cohesive properties with long-range chemical crosslinking using dithiothreitol (DTT), while the NHS end group gives the polymer adhesive properties through bonding with amines found in organic tissue. It was found …

Variations In Surgeon-Applied Loads During Passive Range Of Motion Following Total Knee Replacement With Relevance To Computational Modeling, Cj Bakle Ii

All Theses

Total knee replacement (TKR) is generally considered a successful treatment for musculoskeletal disorders of the knee. However, as many as 20% of patients report some dissatisfaction in their physical function after TKR. And approximately 50% of early revisions needed to address conditions related to component alignment and soft tissue tension to stabilize the knee. During TKR, surgeons manually perform passive range of motion (ROM) assessments to gain feedback perceived as tension in ligaments and other soft tissues. Such assessments are highly subjective and rely on the surgeon's perception of soft tissue tension rather than quantitative objective means. The variability in …

Design Of A Four Channel Pulsatile Perfusion Bioreactor For Ex-Vivo Study Of Vascular Grafts, Thomas M. Fair

All Theses

Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death in the United States. Atherosclerosis in peripheral arteries is a major contributing factor. Autologous saphenous vein grafts are the most common bypass grafts for treating peripheral artery diseases. A quarter of these grafts fail within a year, and around half have failed within 10 years of the initial surgery. Graft failure is attributed to the development of intimal hyperplasia indicated by the migration and proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells, fibroblasts, and the deposition of extracellular proteins.

Increases in flow, pressure, the pulse frequency, and the differential of pressure that model an …