Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering Commons^™

St. Jude Medical: Pulmonary Edema Monitoring In Pacemakers And Icds, David Wei-Péng Chang

Master's Theses

Pulmonary edema occurs when fluid leaks from the pulmonary capillary network into the lung interstitium and alveoli. When the heart is not able to pump blood to the body efficiently, fluid can back up into the veins that take blood through the lungs to the left atrium. This then builds up the pressure in the blood vessels and fluid is pushed into the alveoli in the lungs. The fluid reduces normal oxygen movement through the lungs and can cause impaired gas exchange and respiratory failure. There are many causes of congestive heart failure that may lead to pulmonary edema such …

Formulation Development Of A Polymer-Drug Matrix With A Controlled Release Profile For The Treatment Of Glaucoma, Eric W. Tsoi

Master's Theses

Glaucoma is the leading cause of blindness in the United States accounting for 9-12% of all cases of blindness. Currently, the front line treatment for glaucoma are prostaglandins that may have to be taken up to several times a day. Even with proper treatment, roughly 11% of the patients using the treatment are non-compliant and lose their vision. In this project, ForSight Laboratories has developed a pharmaceutical drug delivering implant with the capability of sustaining long-term release of a prostaglandin as a new way to treat the condition. This project reports the product development of a polymer drug matrix with …

Surgical Tooling Designed For The Direct Anterior Approach To Total Hip Arthroplasty, Jon-Peter Meckel

Master's Theses

Surgical Tooling Designed for the Direct Anterior Approach to Total Hip Arthroplasty Jon-Peter Meckel

Total hip arthroplasty (THA) is becoming more and more common in the US as people continue to live longer and more active lives. The main reason that a THA is required is due to the “wear and tear” affliction of osteoarthritis, which in the year 2000 had at least 3% of the population over 30 showing symptoms. A revitalized approach to THA is the direct anterior approach, or Smith-Petersen approach, which limits the amount of musculature affected by the surgery and creates a very stable joint …

Evaluation Of Corrosion Properties Of Proprietary Metal Alloy Stents For In-Vivo Use, Michael David Bremner

Materials Engineering

To assess corrosion rates of metal alloy bio-absorbable stents an experimental set-up was designed to mimic the coronary artery environment. The artery was modeled using 4mm diameter Tecoflex tubing and the metal alloy stents were inserted into the tubing using a catheter. As is the case in cardiac surgery, the catheter with the stent and a microballoon were maneuvered to the desired position. The microballoon was then slowly inflated to expand the stent and compress it against the tubing walls. The catheter and microballoon were then withdrawn. A circulating pump system was set up to cycle fetal bovine serum (FBS) …

The Fabrication & Characterization Of An Electrokinetic Microfluidic Pump From Su-8, A Negative Epoxy-Based Photoresist, Nash Anderson

Master's Theses

Microfluidics refers to manipulation, precise control, and behavior of fluids at the micro and nanoliter scales. It has entered the realm of science as a way to precisely measure or mix small amounts of fluid to perform highly controlled reactions. Glass and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) are common materials used to create microfluidic devices; however, glass is difficult to process and PDMS is relatively hydrophobic. In this study, SU-8, an epoxy based (negative) photoresist was used to create various electrokinetic microfluidic chips. SU-8 is commonly used in microelectromechanical design. Spin coating of various SU-8 formulations allows for 1 μm to 100 μm …

Edwards Lifesciences - Skirt To Frame Attachment Manufacturing Aid, Samuel Joda, Cesar Grimaldo, Patrick Hutchinson

Mechanical Engineering

No abstract provided.

Stent Graft Blush, Vanessa Barrett, Thomas Matzinger, Mike Morelli

Mechanical Engineering

In order to better understand Type IV endoleaks (“blush”), the Cal Poly Senior Project team GraftTest has developed a blush evaluation system able to mimic several of the aorta’s environmental parameters. Capable of both pressure and flow rate control, this bench top system accommodates Medtronic’s wide range of abdominal and thoracic aortic stent grafts. Having researched endoleaks, stent grafts, and numerous other factors affecting stent graft blush, a system was developed with the aim of assessing and comparing the performance of Medtronic’s stent grafts with regard to blush. Furthermore, this system has been designed to provide reliable and repeatable results …

Analysis Of Acetabular Cup Orientation Effects On Stress Shielding In Total Hip Replacements Using Finite Element Methods, Brogan Mcguire, Jennifer Gemkow, Brad Gausewitz, Alex Georges

Biomedical Engineering

Improper positioning of the acetabular cup has been shown to contribute to issues such as high wear rates and dislocations in total hip replacements. The differences in contact mechanics due to varying orientation of the acetabular cup may also significantly affect strain distribution in the femur. This study examined these effects of acetabular orientation changes and their contribution to stress shielding using finite element analysis. A solid model of a cementless total hip implant was obtained using 3D point scanning and implanted virtually into a femur solid model. The implanted femur model was imported into ABAQUS and loaded with a …

A Mouse Model Of Aortic Endothelial Denudation And Neointimal Formation, Ashkon C. Nehzati

Biomedical Engineering

More than 385,000 people die from coronary heart disease (CHD) annually and treatment costs $108.9 billion each year including the cost of health care services, medications, and lost productivity. CHD decreases heart function by limiting oxygen and nutrient transport carried through the coronary arteries. A complete block to the coronary arteries causes a myocardial infarction in response to an elimination of blood supply to cardiomyocytes. Partial occlusion results in insufficient blood supply to cardiomyocytes, producing myocardial ischemia and angina, which are usually treated with intravascular stents deployed percutaneously, before myocardial infarction occurs. Stents are the most common ways to expand …

The Effect Of A Triphasic Pulse On Scs To Icd Crosstalk, Ryan James Wensley

Master's Theses

It is a known problem that a Spinal Cord Stimulator (SCS) can interact with an Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD) when both devices are implanted in the same patient. Interactions between the SCS and ICD can cause inappropriate therapy which can be harmful to the patient. While ICD devices have a distinct narrowband sensing bandwidth, the pulse configurations that current SCS devices deliver were not designed with this frequency region in mind. In this thesis, I recommend a new pulse configuration for SCS devices that will minimize the interaction between the two devices. I produce a theoretical equation for each pulse …

Design And Development Of A Stair Ascension Assistive Device For Transfemoral Amputees, Casey Michael Barbarino

Master's Theses

Transfemoral amputees around the world experience increased difficulty in climbing stairs due to lack of muscle, balance, and other factors. The loss of a lower limb greatly diminishes the amount of natural force generation provided that is necessary to propel oneself up stairs. This study investigated possible solutions to the problem of stair ascension for transfemoral amputees by the means of designing and developing an externally attachable device to a prosthesis. The number of amputations from military service has greatly increased since 2008, which shows there is a clear need for assistive devices (Wenke, Krueger, & Ficke, 2012). With the …

Tracking Points On A Pacing Lead In A Beating Heart, Avinash Ramesh Varma

Master's Theses

Heart failure is a common condition during which the pumping action of the heart is affected because the heart does not contract or relax properly. Heart failure affects about 5 million Americans, with 550,000 new cases diagnosed each year. Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) is used to treat symptoms and other complications associated with a heart failure. While performing CRT, Implantation of a pacing lead in the left ventricle of the heart is a very challenging surgical procedure performed with fluoroscopy. The target location is often difficult to reach through the tortuous coronary venous anatomy, which varies greatly among individuals. Placement …

Modeling The Zimmer Fitmore And Ml Taper Implantation, Tyler Kazuo Franklin

Master's Theses

With more young adults requiring total hip

arthroplasties the need for bone saving implants becomes

more important. The Zimmer Fitmore is a new bone saving

implant that utilizes an implantation technique that

reduces the damage to the muscle tissue allowing for

patients to have a short recovery time as well as a new

design that allows it to rest on the medial cortex. There

has been anecdotal evidence that this device leads to early

revision within six months of implantation due to failures

occurring in the medial cortex. The main goal of this

study was to computationally model the Zimmer …

Novel Approach To Junctional Bleeding: Tourniquet Device Proposal For Battlefield Hemorrhage Control, Kyle W. Cabaniss

Master's Theses

This study investigated possible solutions to the current wartime problem of junctional hemorrhaging, or massive traumatic hemorrhaging in non-tourinquetable areas such as the neck, groin, or armpit. Junctional hemorrhaging has been identified as a major contributor to potentially survivable deaths seen on the battlefield today and therefore is a priority for the U.S. armed and coalition forces (Kragh et al., 2011a; Bozeman, 2011). Common tourniquets today are standard issue and carried by soldiers in the military, but are limited to distal extremity trauma. As the battlefield has changes however, trauma has transformed from commonly seen gunshot wounds to more extreme …

A Microfluidic Pretreatment Isoelectric Focusing Dc-Field Assisted H-Filter For The Separation Of Charged Particles, Cameron Sean Carroll

Biomedical Engineering

Microfluidic devices are small portable diagnostic chips that allow for analysis of a biologic sample at relatively low cost. This makes them ideal for settings where a hospital is unavailable. The microfluidic pretreatment isoelectric focusing DC-field assisted H-filter is a device that allows for the separation of differently charged particles in a biologic sample. It does this by employing the concepts of diffusion, electrophoresis, and isoelectric focusing. This is perfect for isolation of a desired analyte or separation of waste from a sample in order to achieve better diagnostic results. The device was first modeled mathematically and visually using Comsol. …