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Robert E. Thomas
Information Specialist
573-882-2480
ThomasR@missouri.edu
Published: Feb. 19, 2008
Story Source: Nicole Fearing, 573-882-9041
Accompanying video sound bites and b-roll are available for viewing or download at http://umsystem.edu/video. Accompanying photo is available for download at http://agebb.missouri.edu/news.
MU students build device with wood and screwsto train residents in laparoscopic surgery
COLUMBIA, Mo. - Using wood, screws and a small surveillance camera, University of Missouri biological engineering students built an improved device to train surgical residents and medical students to perform laparoscopic surgery.
Surgical residents spend hours using such devices-called box trainers-to hone their skills for performing delicate, minimally invasive procedures by inserting thin instruments into a patient's body.
Using readily available, off-the-shelf hardware, the MU undergraduates put together their box trainer for about a third the cost of commercially available models.
Portable trainers resemble large breadboxes. The inner dimensions approximate a patient's body cavity. Surgeons insert instruments through small openings or ports. A video feed from a laparoscope appears on a monitor, allowing surgeons to direct the instruments in complex tasks such as suturing.
Some trainers on the market provide only a fixed point of view. Others require two operators: one to manipulate the instruments and another to adjust the video camera's point of view.
The students' trainer uses a small, inexpensive surveillance camera with a remote control attached with Velcro to the handle of the instruments. Camera images appear on an LCD display.
"Ours is better than the ones on the market. One operator can manipulate the instruments and the camera, which can pan, tilt, and zoom," said Luciano Alleruzzo, a senior biological engineering student from Baldwin, Mo.
"The device is especially helpful because it allows students to practice without someone there holding the camera," said Nicole Fearing, assistant professor of surgery and medical director of the University of Missouri Russell D. and Mary B. Shelden Simulation Center. "It is also portable and inexpensive."
The trainer's frame and camera mounting are made of wood and screws bought at a Home Depot. Students assembled it using their own power tools.
Total cost for parts including camera is between $400 and $500, or about a third of commercially produced models, said Carrie Schmitt, a senior from Desoto, Mo.
"We wanted to make it as inexpensive as possible. Medical students could build their own," she said. The trainer can be hooked to any television or computer monitor, allowing medical students to practice at home.
"We are seeing that simulation is more and more important in all aspects of medical training," said Fearing. "If we get students trained before they get in the operating room, they will be safer, more efficient and provide better care for the patients."
"I think we will continue to collaborate with engineering students to develop better and better types of simulation devices. It shows that engineering and medicine can collaborate to do good things," she said.
Schmitt hopes the prototype can be mass-produced, making inexpensive trainers available to residents and medical students.
Developing the trainer was a semester-long senior capstone project in biological engineering. Capstone courses allow students to apply what they learned in classrooms to real-world situations.
The University of Missouri Health Sciences Center has an extensive laparoscopic surgery division. The students' trainer will join an array of other simulation devices when the Shelden Simulation Center opens its expanded new facility in May, said Fearing.
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| Dr. Nicole Fearing, left, assistant professor of surgery, shows medical student Valerie French how to use a box trainer built by MU biological students to practice laparoscopic surgery. Carrie Schmitt, right, who helped build the trainer, looks on. Photo credit: MU photo |
