I-Corps: Flexible biodegradable medical device tether and inserter

这个I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是了解一种新的可生物降解系绳和插入技术的市场需求。研究人员已经开发出一种插入装置，它可以将一个临时的系绳插入到活组织中，可以将医疗设备限制在体内，同时也允许这些设备在需要时很容易地被移除。许多外科手术和植入应用可能受益于这项技术的商业化，该项目将探索这些应用的市场需求。该技术的一个潜在应用是产后宫内节育器（IUD），这将减轻由宫内节育器排出事件引起的医疗并发症。这个I-Corps项目的重点是将可生物降解的系绳插入活组织并与现有医疗设备连接的新技术。该技术必须允许医疗设备在正常操作期间保持到位，但在需要时可以轻松移除。研究人员已经制造出了alpha和beta原型，证明了将可生物降解的系绳可靠地插入外植肌肉组织，并显示出足够的锚定力来约束医疗设备。使用同样的系绳，研究人员已经证明了很容易移除医疗设备。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is to develop an understanding of the market needs for a novel biodegradable tether and inserter technology. Researchers have developed an inserter device which delivers a temporary tether into living tissue that can constrain medical devices within the body, while also permitting those devices to be easily removed if desired. Numerous surgical and implant applications might benefit from commercialization of this technology, and the market needs for these applications will be explored in this project. A potential application of the technology is with postpartum intrauterine devices (IUD) where this will mitigate medical complications caused by IUD expulsion events.This I-Corps project focuses on a novel technology for inserting a biodegradable tether into living tissue and interfacing with existing medical devices. This technology must permit the medical devices to be held in place during normal operation, but allow easy removal when desired. Researchers have fabricated alpha and beta prototypes that demonstrate reliable insertion of a biodegradable tether into explanted muscle tissue and shown sufficient anchoring force to constrain a medical device. Using the same tether, researchers have demonstrated easy removal of a medical device.