Week 7

For my last week in the OR, I observed a procedure that was the first of its kind in the country. In this case, the patient had previously received a sternum resection due to cancer. Although an implant was placed in place of the missing sternum, it needed to be replaced. To this end, the physicians on the case called for a custom designed 3D printed titanium implant to replace the sternum. This implant was created using CT scans of the patient’s own anatomy, ensuring that this artificial sternum would be tailored to the patient and fit perfectly. The surgery itself involved cutting through the chest wall and removing the previous implant. After removing some of the soft tissue on the rib cage, the implant was fit into place and securely screwed in. Dr. Spector’s part of the surgery was to reconstruct the chest wall by bringing muscle flaps over the implant.

In the research front, we have made multiple technical adjustments to the SMF platform to bring us closer to being able to reliably perform diffusion studies. For example, 3D printed templates are used to generate SMF constructs with consistent dimensions. Small issues still exist with the platform, but I will be staying in touch with Dr. Spector’s research group to sort these out and assist in data analysis.


Spending a significant amount of time in the OR allowed me to observe the concepts of tissue engineering put into practice, such as in the use of tissue grafts. Seeing patients has also added tangibility to the goal of our research; to help improve and save lives. I am incredibly grateful to Dr. Spector for allowing me to spend the majority of my time here meeting patients and observing surgeries. At the end of our time of being immersed, I can confidently say that my clinical experiences have broadened my perception and understanding of how biomedical engineering research fits into the real world.

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