MIT 2.75 Engineering Medical Devices Overview

With the goal of engaging graduate students and accelerating ideas into prototypes, teams of MIT graduate engineering students spend a semester collaborating with clinicians in CIMIT-affiliated hospitals to develop innovative medical devices. Clinicians (physicians, nurses, and scientists) present clinical problems and initial ideas. Students form teams to work with the clinicians to turn these ideas into reality. The goal is for the students to deliver a working prototype and a journal-quality article in one semester. In its fifth year, the course has been a great opportunity for clinicians to test out new ideas and to stimulate new collaborations. For example, Robopsy, a robotic device to assist radiologists performing tumor biopsies was invented by an MIT team led by Rajiv Gupta, MD, in 2004. The team was awarded the 2007 MIT $100K prize, the world's leading entrepreneurship competition and the 2008 ASME Innovation Showcase. Join us to hear from the teams of 2008.

Forum Summary

Endotracheal intubation requires that a cuff on the end of the endotracheal tube be inflated to seal off the trachea.  If the pressure in the cuff is too low, fluid flows into the lungs, potentially leading to infection, but if the pressure is too high, blood flow in the surrounding tissue is reduced, potentially leading to tissue damage.  Currently, doctors inflate the cuff on an endotracheal tube using a normal syringe, and they do not always inflate the cuff to the correct pressure.  A syringe with a built-in pressure sensor would allow doctors to inflate the cuff more accurately.

MIT students worked with Joan Spiegel, MD, to design such a syringe.  They decided to incorporate a sealed spring, or bellows, into the type of syringe normally used to inflate the cuff of an endotracheal tube.  They tested their device on a mannequin, and they found that it worked well.  The students believe that with a few modifications, their device would have the same haptics as a normal syringe.  In the future, they plan to modify their design so that their device is suitable for mass production, and they hope that their device will someday be included in widely used intubation kits.

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