Emulating living soft tissues for a thoracic trauma trainer
- Submitting institution
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Nottingham Trent University
- Unit of assessment
- 32 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
- Output identifier
- 25 - 970353
- Type
- T - Other
- DOI
-
-
- Location
- -
- Brief description of type
- N/A
- Open access status
- Out of scope for open access requirements
- Month
- September
- Year
- 2016
- URL
-
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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0
- Research group(s)
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C - Fashion and Textiles Research Centre
- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- This practice-based research is material focused, drawing on, transforming and synthesizing bodies of knowledge of different types. Collaboration with medical experts and expert users, craft knowledge in composite elastomers, additive manufacturing and a study of thoracic anatomy were instrumental to development. Novel moulding processes transformed rigid printed artefacts into emulations of human organs and the sensorial effects were achieved with unique craft-centred composite polymer processing techniques, co-designed with the medical collaborators.
This research addresses deficits in task-based emergency surgery training in austere environments where ethics, availability, accessibility and morbidity of human cadavers limits current training options. The design challenge was to develop a synthetic alternative to bridge the gap between cadavers and medical manikins. To do this, Arm developed new casting processes to emulate human organs and anatomy with surfaces and textures that feel like living tissue. The work was funded by Royal Centre for Defence Medicine, Defence Medical Services (DMS), MOD to preserve and aid transmission of experiential knowledge gained by field surgeons during deployment.
Outputs include two operational prototypes, using ‘SIMBODIES’© manikins to house the surrogate internal anatomy. V1 was exhibited at Trauma Innovations 2016, included palpable, beating heart with internal detail, lungs, airways and connective vasculature, winning a Royal College of Surgeons Award in 2017.
V2 used embedded knitted fabric to allow simulated organs to be repaired with clinical sutures and a repair gel. Blood mimicking fluid was pressurised using medical standard equipment, delivering ‘blood’ to regions of interest via the vascular network. Both prototypes were demonstrated in a four-day series of live ‘emergency surgery scenarios’, alongside the tri-service (DMS) Field Surgical Team at DSEI2017.
This research has been licenced to ‘SIMBODIES’© where development of a commercial iteration continues and the methods and materials developed have been published in International Journal of Legal Medicine, Materials and Sensors.
- Author contribution statement
- -
- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
- -