Self-Disarming Suture Needle, Team SWAGE

Client: Dr. Hands

Advisor: Prof. Awesome

Team: Dilbert (Leader)

Dogbert (Communicator)

Catbert (BWIG)

Ratbert (BSAC)

Date: March 6 to March 12, 2014

Problem Statement

In order to prevent accidental needle “sticks” from a suturing device to a surgeon or staff member, a disarming or retracting sterilized suture needle must be developed that allows a reversible action when passing into and through the underlying subcutaneous tissue, dermis, epidermis, or other organ tissues in the body. The device must encompass all features of sharpness, stiffness, maneuverability, and size/shape variance as a conventional needle with the added safety of needle retraction. The goal is to permanently eliminate the risk of needle puncture and infection to the operator during procedures.

Last Week’s Goals

  • Meet with advisor Friday morning at 11:00 am.
  • Revise PDS document.
  • Update Gantt chart.
  • Discuss obtaining materials for prototyping after break.
  • Try calling Dr. S.
  • Establish a meeting time with Dr. Hands.

Summary of Team Role Accomplishments

  • Leader Dilbert - delegated paper assignments as follows – introduction and background to self, competing designs to Dogbert new design to Catbert, results and future work to Ratbert
  • Communicator – Dogbert – contacted Dave Johnson of TiNi Alloy Co. to obtain samples
  • BWIG Catbert– posted progress report to web and posted new pictures
  • BSAC Ratbert – attended the BSAC general meeting where BSAC discussed having an advising session during design and how to have more Biomaterials based projects – Ratbert discussed this with the team and the team likes the idea of an advising session.

Summary of Design Accomplishments

  • Ratbert, Dilbert, and Dogbert met with advisor Friday morning and discussed the project status. It was decided that priorities for Spring Break included 1) contacting Mark S. regarding prototyping, 2) selecting a journal or conference to submit a paper to, and 3) obtaining materials for prototyping. Ratbert was put in charge of contacting Pharmacia about obtaining some Healon, while Dogbert would try to get some Nitinol samples.
  • December’s PDS document was updated and uploaded to the web site.
  • Dogbert talked to Mark S. for about 15 minutes on Tuesday, March 10. He worked out a deal with a prototyping company in Massachusetts, which he found through the Thomas Registry, to make about 10 first generation prototypes for about $1500. The first generation prototypes were not surgically ready; they only showed that the concept would work. He could not remember the names of the Nitinol or prototyping companies that he worked with, but said he had the details written down at home and would be willing to share them. At this point, Dogbert’s cell phone battery went dead, and she has not been able to get a hold of him since.
  • Dogbert tried calling Dave Johnson of TiNi Alloy Co. to obtain some Nitinol samples, but he referred her to SMA-inc. because his company manufactures sheets of Nitinol instead of tubing. Holly Fi of SMAinc. was willing to send some free samples of Nitinol tubing (available in outer diameters of 0.30, 0.23, or 0.2 mm), but never sent the samples nor called back like she had said she would. Dogbert tried calling Holly again on March 11, but she was out of the office, so Dogbert will try calling again tomorrow.
  • Dilbert and Ratbert both tried to find suitable conferences or journals to submit a paper to, but most of the deadlines have already passed. The best alternative may be to prepare a paper before the semester ends, and submit it for a conference in 2003, since Dogbert, Catbert, and Ratbert will still be here next Fall.
  • Catbert met with Brian Berg to discuss the properties of Nitinol. He gave her several articles to read, but none of them were especially helpful for this project.
  • A team meeting was set for Tuesday evening, March12. At this meeting, a new plan for obtaining the project goals will be discussed, the Gantt chart will be revised,

This Week’s Goals/Individual Goals

  • All - Meet Tuesday, March12 at 8:00 pm in the BME lab to 1) discuss project strategy, 2) revise the Gantt chart, and 3) select a time for meeting with Dr. Hands.
  • All - Finalize poster and any other tasks for Morgridge Center Symposium.
  • All - Begin working on conference paper.
  • All - OBTAIN PROTOTYPING MATERIALS!!
  • Dogbert - Contact Mark S. regarding prototyping and Nitinol companies.

Project Difficulties

The holiday weekend made it especially difficult to reach many of the company contacts that we needed to talk to for this project, because they were on vacation. However, there should not be any problems reaching them this week.

Activities

Date / Person(s) / Task / Time (hrs) / Weekly Total / Semester Total
3.6.2011 / Catbert / Meet with Brian Berg / 1
3.10.2011 / Read Nitinol articles from Brian Berg / 2.5
3.11.2011 / Read more Nitinol articles / 1.5
3.11.2011 / Convert reports to PDF files for web site / 0.5
3.12.2011 / Analyzed Results / 1 / 6.5 / 39.5
3.12.2011 / Ratbert / Contact Pharmacia / 2 / 2 / 28.5
3.10.2011 / Dilbert / Research conference deadlines / 2
3.11.2011 / More conference research / 1.5
3.13.2011 / Prepare for outreach presentation / 0.5 / 4 / 34.1
3.10.2011 / Dogbert / Left voice mail message for Mark S / 0.1
3.11.2011 / Follow-up phone call to SMA-inc / 1 / 1.1 / 31.75
3.4.2011 / Team / Meet with advisor, discuss progress / 1.5
3.6.2011 / Team / Class time- Revise PDS, / 1.5 / 3 / 14.25

Project Schedule

Task / Jan / Feb / March / April / May
27 / 4 / 11 / 18 / 25 / 4 / 11 / 18 / 25 / 1 / 8 / 15 / 22 / 29 / 6 / 13
Project R&D
Force Testing / X / X / X / X / X
Balloon Materials / X / X / X
Fill Materials / X / X / X / X / X
Manufacturing / X / X
Cost Estimation
Prototyping
Deliverables
Progress Reports / X / X / X / X / X / X / X
Journal Article / X
Midsemester / X / X
Final Poster
K-12 Outreach Contact / X
K-12 Plan / X / X / X
K-12 Present
Patenting
Contact WARF / X
IDR to WAR / X
Wait for Response
Meetings
Client / X / X
Team / X / X / X / X / X / X / X
Advisor / X / X / X / X / X / X / X
Website
Update / X / X / X / X / X / X / X

Filled boxes = projected timeline

X = task was worked on or completed

Expenses

Date: / Item: / Cost: / Comments:
1/29/02 / Nitinol samples from TiNi Alloys: shipping / $18.24 / 1 & 3 mm diam x 16 in., FedEx Priority
2/2/02 / CrystalHaze Lite software 3D-CAD package w/ .dxf fileexport functions / $83.95 / (w/ tax & shipping)
2/27/02 / ME Shop materials: 2 lb. brass billet; 3"x3"x12" HDPE / $11.24 / Materials for 'stop-plate' and prototype needles
3/02/02 / ME shop: CNC machine set-up and milling / $117.74 / Machine prototypes
3/17/02 / Telephone bill / $7.81 / Conference calls – from Dilberts’ appt. to Dr. S.