Glaucoma Gals

  Strategy 1: elastic resistance  - multiple dispersing tubes  -rubber opens and closes the pressure  -material with elastic  strategy 2: magnetic      - magnet to change surface area of tube  -magnet to vary resistance ( external ?)  -magnetic switch to open and close  strategy 3: dissolvable -dissolvable Ahmed valve  - silk valve  **possible new material  -outer to inner  silk research:  - ideal for wearable and implantable health monitoring sensors  -has been used in drug delivery  -flexible  -does not generate immune response  - often superior to most traditional materials  - Sustainable silk material for biomedical, optical, food supply applications (phys.org) -silk long fibers are able to distribute mechanical stresses throughout durable epoxy  - Implantable Composite Material Inspired by Silkworm Silk — Innovation — AskNature Rewrote specs (general) did research on (speci...

This week consisted of a lot of brainstorming, planning, and researching. I also contacted the client multiple times to figure out a shake down test we will be doing soon, and to update our deliverable 1 and 3. I also worked on making tasks and timeline for deliverable 2.  Brainstorm:  Decided on a remolded Ahmed valve with rubber material resistance (elastic) with a possible dissolving factor. This will be a combination of strategy 1 and 3.  Elastic Resistance  - most similar to Ahmed valve, but will change the resistance post fibrosis to have a better success rate 2. Magnetic Resistance  - uses a magnet to open and close a valve to vary the flow 3. Dissolvable Resistance  - Using a material that over time dissolves, so that once fibrosis occurs, the part of the valve that doesn't need to be there will be gone Client Meeting Notes:   Here are the notes I took during the client meeting. We discussed the schematic that we will be following for our shake...

 This week we did a lot of brainstorming and picking concepts, and also planning for benchtop testing in the lab.  Meeting with Client:  Do a benchtop lab to measure pressures.  Brinkley's notes for the team.  Research on Elastic Resistance & Strat 1:  From: Is Ahmed Glaucoma Valve Consistent in Performance? This study did not take into account pressure after the valve as shown above and below.  Explanation of why they didn’t do this: “Differential pressure can be determined by subtracting the outlet pressure from the inlet pressure. Because the AGV was submerged in a saline bath, its outlet pressure can be considered as nil. On the other hand, the bleb resistance in an in vivo condition will determine the outlet pressure. Therefore, a higher outlet or bleb pressure can reduce the IOP-lowering effect of the AGV. Besides, a device with a higher opening pressure (e.g., in higher teens in vitro conditions) is likely to end up at an inadequate IOP con...

  Wednesday team meeting:  - came up with a needs statement as seen in the picture above  - brainstorm 100 different ideas on how the product could possibly be made    Del#3: - worked on requirement specifications and wrote out summaries and how they could be tested based on Brinkley's research on the different specifications and requirements  Research:  Ahmed Valve materials:  AGV_Product_Brochure_FP7_IFU_revB_50-0088.pdf (newworldmedical.com) - single use only  -Model FP7 = medical grade silicone  -consist of valve mechanism and plate  valve mechanism composed of silicone drainage tube and polypropylene body (houses elastomer valve membrane ) -ploy protects membrane from blocage by fibrosis tissue  -plate provides surface where fluid can be dispersed  - contradiction:           - bacterial conjuntivis           -bacterial corneal ulcers      ...

 This week we mainly focused on team brainstorming, deliverables 1 and 3, and more research on specific valves. Our posters used for brainstorming are shown below. For Market Searches Research:  From the CDC:  -“About 3 million Americans have glaucoma. It is the second leading cause of blindness worldwide.” -High-risk patients include: “African Americans over age 40, all people over age 60, people with a family history of glaucoma, and people who have diabetes. African Americans are 6 to 8 times more likely to get glaucoma than whites. People with diabetes are 2 times more likely to get glaucoma than people without diabetes.”  -A 2016 study found that 81% of glaucoma cases among Hispanics or Latinos are undiagnosed and untreated compared to 73% in non-Hispanic Whites.3 By the year 2050, it is expected that 50% of all glaucoma patients in the United States will be Hispanic.3 From Screening and Intervention for Glaucoma and Eye Health through Telemedicine:  -They ...