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Development of a Minimally Invasive, Injectable, Shape Memory Suture and Delivery System

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Abstract

Suturing in space-confined surgical settings encountered during microsurgical procedures can be technically complex and time intensive. This paper presents the development of a new injector and new shape-memory alloy clip that can replace conventional suture. Engineering and surgical assessments of the injector and clips were performed. A prototype of the delivery system was tested in simulated surgical settings and compared to conventional suturing techniques for surgical time and wound strength. In various micro-surgical scenarios, the new injectable system proved to be 5 to 20-times more efficient and to have wound strengths over three-times that of conventional suturing. Further, the wounds closed by the shape-memory alloy clips could be forced to open and then recover to a watertight state, unlike conventional sutures which break upon failure. This new injector and shape-memory alloy clips proved to be quicker, stronger, and technically easier than conventional suturing. Future work is underway to test the injectable delivery system and the shape-memory alloy clips using a real-time, in vivo porcine model.

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Colorado Bioscience Discovery Grant for the funding which enabled the initial prototyping and testing of this device, and Craig Lanning and Bryan Rech for their assistance in the Bioengineering Department of the University of Colorado.

Disclosure

Jeffrey Olson, Robin Shandas, and Michael Erlanger have a patent application for the shape memory coapter.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ophthalmology, School of Medicine, University of Colorado Denver, 1675 Aurora Ct, Mail Stop 731, Aurora, CO, 80045, USA

    Jeffrey L. Olson & Michael Erlanger

  2. Department of Bioengineering, University of Colorado Denver, 1675 Aurora Ct, Mail Stop 731, Aurora, CO, 80045, USA

    Robin Shandas

Authors
  1. Jeffrey L. Olson
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  2. Robin Shandas
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  3. Michael Erlanger
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michael Erlanger.

Additional information

Associate Editor James Tunnell oversaw the review of this article.

All porcine eyes were IACUC approval exempt.

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Olson, J.L., Shandas, R. & Erlanger, M. Development of a Minimally Invasive, Injectable, Shape Memory Suture and Delivery System. Ann Biomed Eng 40, 1520–1529 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-012-0508-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-012-0508-5

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