Semester 2- Week 11 Kierstin

 Lab time with Brinkley: 

Brinkley and I did simulations where we had a water column at an unhealthy eye level (Clamped to a retort stand at the top) and created a system with tubing that connected the water column to a pig eye. We used a needle and placed it inside the anterior chamber. When we moved the water column up and down we observed the eye pressure physically increase and decrease. This was helpful to understand where we needed to insert the tubing for the surgery simulation, and also observe healthy and unhealthy eye pressure. 

In Class: 

Lab time with Brinkley and Alex: 

Pig eye surgery simulation: 

This week during our lab time surgery simulation we focused more on surgically implanting the tube into the anterior chamber, rather than making a pocket and implanting an actual valve. This part was really important to learn how to do because without it we can’t see how our valve would actually work because we wouldn’t be able to get any flow. 

Our eyes were put back in the freezer from the morning lab simulation, which did not negatively affect our surgery simulation. 

Brinkley and Alex set up the lab station and laid out all the new surgical devices that we bought. There was a scalpel with disposable blades, which is shown in the next picture next to the blue scalpel. I worked on figuring out where the blade connected to so we could use it. 

For this test, I was the main surgeon and Brinkley helped me while Alex took pictures. 

We started by making an incision in the conjunctiva so we could have a cleared area to insert the needle through the sclera into the anterior chamber. This was really hard to do. It was hard to tell how deep I was cutting through the conjunctiva, without damaging the sclera. 

Once we thought we had a cleared area where the conjunctiva couldn’t create an obstacle for the tube, we used a needle to poke through the sclera into the aqueous humor. This created a lot of fluid flowing out of the anterior chamber and significantly lowered IOP. It was really difficult to insert the tube from the valve. After many attempts and many eyes of both Alex and I trying, Dr. Rickard told us to move the needle around in a circle to make the hole bigger, and to also bevel the tube. 

This is the valve with the beveled tube ending, for easier insertion. 

Because the valve was just for placement purposes and not an actual working valve, we cut the end of the tube so we could insert it easier without the weight of the silicone pulling the tube back out of the hole. 

After a few more attempts we got the tube in the eye which was a huge accomplishment. We used another needle and inserted it into the anterior chamber and used the same water column as earlier to increase and decrease the IOP and see the aqueous humor flow through our inserted tube. 

This was really important for us to accomplish before our pig head simulation, so we could try to do the complete surgery. 

This is our fully manufactured valve, which has the same dimensions as the baerveldt valve.

Capstone book:

Worked on editing our page for the end of the year Capstone book and wrote this bio. Chose pictures to send in to Lindsey, and conversed with the group to see if they wanted any changes made. 

Cap. Poster: 

I downloaded the template, read the rubric, and started the poster. I did all the work on the left side, which included looking up the best pictures that would represent the concepts well, taking pictures of the Solidworks valve, and adding the arrows to show the varied resistances and flow disbursement.