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Surgeons could soon be perfecting their key-hole surgery techniques on artificial bodies, produced by technology normally used to make precision tools and parts for industry.
Cardiff University’s Manufacturing Engineering Centre (MEC) is developing Primacorps, a cost-effective realistic surgical trainer, for the Bristol-based company Limbs and Things Ltd.
“Virtual bodies” have now been created and the next step will be to make prototype physical versions, for evaluation by surgeons across Europe.
Once the prototypes are approved, final parts – organs and bones - will be produced, using novel materials and the MEC’s state of the art rapid tooling technology.
“Such artificial bodies are now needed because of recent advances in minimally invasive surgical techniques, such as laparoscopy or key-hole surgery,” said Mr Julien Etienne, project engineer at the MEC. “The success of these technical advances relies heavily on the skills training of surgeons.
“Traditionally, surgeons have acquired skills as ‘apprentices’, but many surgical trainers are uncomfortable about trainees starting to learn on real patients, and it is widely acknowledged that training has lacked uniformity and has led to an inconsistent acquisition of skills by surgeons.”
The project is made possible by “reverse engineering” – a reversal of the usual engineering process. Instead of a design being used to make a product, a product is used to make a design – from which many others may then be produced.
The significant difference here is that the product being reproduced is the human body.
Two average individuals - one male and one female - were scanned from neck to upper thigh, using the Bristol Oncology Centre’s MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) tunnel scanner.
These data sets were then processed by the MEC to produce the organs and skeletal structure in a CAD (Computer Aided Design) friendly format.
Close collaboration between engineers and surgeons has been necessary to ensure that the parts could be produced by existing injection moulding techniques and that they are anatomically accurate,
The MEC, based in the University’s School of Engineering, is a Welsh Development Agency-recognised Centre of Excellence and holds the Queen’s Anniversary Prize for its work for and with local small and medium-sized firms.
It is part of the School’s Electrical and Electronic Engineering Division, which received a 5 rating in the recent assessment of research quality, denoting work of international and national excellence.
Notes to editors:
1. An image of the “virtual body” is available from the Cardiff University website at www.cardiff.ac.uk/news/releases/0203/04/img1.jpg
2. Engineering has been taught at Cardiff since 1893. Today, the School of Engineering is regarded as one of the top centres for engineering with teaching and research facilities ranked amongst the best in the British university system following a £35million refurbishment in recent years. Staff members are active in most fields of engineering research. These are split into three main groups: civil engineering; electrical, electronic and systems engineering; and mechanical engineering. Its research has earned the highest ratings in government assessments, and it has been rated “Excellent” for the teaching of civil engineering, mechanical engineering, environmental engineering, and electronic, electrical and systems engineering. Research expertise within civil engineering includes: concrete and masonry structures; decision support systems; environmental water management; geotechnical engineering; performance of lightweight structures; structural testing and analysis; and traffic engineering. Research expertise within electrical, electronic and systems engineering includes: electrical power, machines and drives; electronic systems; industrial systems; magnetics technology; manufacturing engineering; medical systems; microelectronics; and thermoelectronics. Research expertise within mechanical engineering includes: control and dynamics; emissions, effluents and processes; energy; renewable energy; fluid power; materials; thermal fluids; and tribology.
3. Cardiff University has a history of service to Wales and the world which dates from its foundation by Royal Charter in 1883. Today, independent government assessments recognise the University as one of Britain’s leading research and teaching universities. In the 2001 national assessment of research quality, the University was ranked seventh of more than 106 universities in the UK. Eighty seven percent of the University’s academic research staff work in departments assessed as undertaking work of national and international excellence, and the University is, by invitation, a member of the Russell Group of leading research universities. Twenty-one subject areas have been assessed as “Excellent” for teaching, one of the highest totals in Britain.
Visit the University website at: www.cardiff.ac.uk
Further information:
Chris Matthews,
MEC,
Cardiff University.
Tel: 029 2087 6730.
Email: MatthewsCW@cf.ac.uk
Nick Gerolemou
Research Analyst
Limbs & Things Ltd
Sussex Street
St Philips
Bristol BS2 0RA
Tel: 0117 311 0500
Fax: 0117 311 0501
E-mail : nick.gerolemou@limbsandthings.com
Web: www.limbsandthings.com
Andrew Weltch,
Public Relations Office,
Cardiff University.
Tel: 029 2087 5596.
Mobile: 07812 598 849
Email: WeltchA@cf.ac.uk
Am ymholiadau trwy’r Gymraeg:
Debra Lewis,
Ffôn: 029 2087 4499,
E-bost: LewisD4@cf.ac.uk