Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering Commons^™

Modeling Of Aortic Valve Anatomic Geometry From Clinical Multi Detector-Row Computed Tomography Images, Gregory A. Book

Master's Theses

Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is an emerging and viable alternative to surgical valve replacement. A TAVI procedure involves insertion of a catheter into the heart through an artery or transapically, and expanding valve stent in place. This procedure dramatically reduces the recovery time by eliminating the need for open heart surgery. Understanding the biomechanics of the stent-valve interaction is crucial for proper device deployment and function. In this study, we examine the extraction of valve geometries and creation of valve models from multi-detector row computed tomography (MDCT) images that may eventually be used to model stent expansion on a …

Characterization And Analysis Techniques Of A Dynamic In Vitro Blood-Brain Barrier Model, Ryan Everett Woodhouse

Biomedical Engineering

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is responsible for maintaining the sensitive environment required by the brain. Although the BBB is necessary for proper functioning of the brain, it acts as an obstacle for doctors attempting to treat neurological disease. For a drug to act upon the brain, it must first pass through the discriminating BBB. For this reason, much research has been performed in recent years in order to create an in vitro model of the BBB on which drugs targeted for the central nervous system may be tested. The main goal of this project is to create an in vitro …

Can Spr Be Used To Interrogate The Double Layer Of Nacl, Brandon Kawula

Biomedical Engineering

Solutions of reagent grade salt .1, .01, .001, .0001, .00001M were run through a SPR to see if SPR had enough resolution to detect the formation of the electric double layer. We found that NaCl did in fact return a detectable signal. The signal shape seems to depend on concentration. While more study may need to be done to get definite information it looks like SPR can interrogate the double layer.

Multi-Frequency Processing For Lumen Enhancement With Wideband Intravascular Ultrasound, Rory A. Carrillo

Master's Theses

The application of high frequency ultrasound is the key to higher resolution intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) images. The need to further improve the IVUS spatial resolution may drive the transducer center frequency even higher than the current 40 MHz range. However, increasing the center frequency may be challenging as it leads to stronger scattering echoes from blood. The high level of blood scattering echoes may obscure the arterial lumen and make image interpretation difficult. Blood backscatter levels increase with transmission center frequency at a much greater rate compared to arterial tissue. These different frequency dependencies provide a potential method to distinguish …

Virtual And Augmented Reality Techniques For Minimally Invasive Cardiac Interventions: Concept, Design, Evaluation And Pre-Clinical Implementation, Cristian A. Linte

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

While less invasive techniques have been employed for some procedures, most intracardiac interventions are still performed under cardiopulmonary bypass, on the drained, arrested heart. The progress toward off-pump intracardiac interventions has been hampered by the lack of adequate visualization inside the beating heart.

This thesis describes the development, assessment, and pre-clinical implementation of a mixed reality environment that integrates pre-operative imaging and modeling with surgical tracking technologies and real-time ultrasound imaging. The intra-operative echo images are augmented with pre-operative representations of the cardiac anatomy and virtual models of the delivery instruments tracked in real time using magnetic tracking technologies. As …

Application Of Magnetic Resonance Imaging To Understanding The Pathogenesis Of The X-Linked Leukodystrophy Pelizaeus-Merzbacher Disease, Jeremy Jerome Laukka

Wayne State University Dissertations

Myelin is a multilamellar membrane structure surrounding axons in both the CNS and PNS that facilitates nerve conduction. In the CNS, myelin is synthesized by oligodendrocytes, while in the PNS, myelin is synthesized by Schwann cells. In the CNS, Proteolipid protein 1 (PLP1), an integral membrane protein, is the major protein component of myelin, constituting ~50% of myelin protein. Mutations of the PLP1 gene in man cause a spectrum of neurological disease, ranging from the severe Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease (PMD), that typically begins during infancy with nystagmus, seizures and hypotonia and evolves into spastic quadriparesis, cognitive impairment and ataxia, to ¡¥pure¡¦ …