User:Asisk
Contents
Predicting Relative 'Cleanability' from Geometry
Mentors: Dr. Stephen Merrill and Casey O'Brien
Personal Info
My name is Anna Sisk I am going into my senior year at Marquette University. I am majoring in Mathematics and minoring in Biological Sciences.
Research Topic
I am researching the 'cleanability' of surgical equipment, specifically arthroscopic shaver handles. Due to the geometry of these tools cleaning and sterilizing them is not possible with the reprocessing procedures given by the manufacturers. This can lead to the shavers retaining tissues, such as bone, blood, and other fluids, between surgeries causing infections and, in some cases, death. After an outbreak of surgical site infections (SSI) following orthopedic operations at a Texan hospital attention was drawn to the dirty surgical equipment. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a safety warning concerning the shavers and proper reprocessing techniques. The project I am working on is looking at CT scans of plastic models of the shavers and developing a mathematical models to show where particles are retained. Our goal is to validate these models.
Goals
- Characterize the distribution from from the CT scans of the plastic models
- Determination of simulation time between plastic and mathematical models
Weekly Accomplishments
Week 1
- Orientation to the REU
- Lunch with Dr. Merrill and Casey to determine project and develop a preliminary outline for the summer
- Two additional meeting with Casey to discuss the different tools and programs we will use, receive background references and information, and work on using Matlab
- Research and reading on background information: what the problem is, why it is important, how attention was brought to it, what is being done, ect.
- Practicing different tools on Matlab
- Setting up this wiki page
