News About this Project

• News: Sam Alkmin's experience as an exchange student inspired him to return to UW-Madison to pursue his PhD.

Project Overview

There is a need for an ergonomic probe holder for Image Guided Interventional Procedures.

Real-time three-dimensional echocardiography is a relatively new and promising imaging modality for guidance of interventional cardiac procedures [1]. The use of echo imaging in conjunction with traditional imaging modalities such as X-ray fluoroscopy [2] may increase the safety and efficiency of interventional procedures while reducing x-ray dose. Most of the current reports demonstrating its use have focused on the use of a trans-esophageal echo (TEE) probe, which enters the esophagus and images the heart from a posterior direction. Unfortunately, TEE is invasive and requires patient sedation. Transthoracic echo (TTE), however, is completely non-invasive and doesn’t require sedation. For this reason TTE maybe be better suited than TEE for guidance of routine cardiac interventions.

One problem with using TTE for interventional guidance is it requires an echo technician to hold the probe in place throughout the procedure. Not only is this unreliable due to muscle fatigue, it also exposes the technician ionizing radiation. Ideally, a device would accomplish the task of holding the probe in order to decrease occupational hazards in the cath-lab and provide reliable imaging throughout the procedure.

We propose the creation of an ergonomic holder for a TTE probe to facilitate interventional echo imaging. The holder would ideally strap onto the patient and/or attach to the operating table, holding the probe in place against the torso. The holder would have to be reasonably comfortable, but also snug in order to keep the heart in the echo image field-of-view under a reasonable amount of patient movement. The probe holder should be able to have at least one degree of rotational freedom so that it can properly fit between the ribs (ideal location for imaging).

For this project, BME design students will work closely with a PhD Student in Biomedical Engineering and an Interventional Cardiologist on the design, fabrication, and validation of the device. If successfully implemented, the results may be submitted to a conference such as IEEE EMBC, with students as co-authors.

Team Picture

Contact Information

Team Members

• Anthony Schmitz - Team Leader
• Carie Fantl - Communicator
• Chelsea Bledsoe - BSAC
• John Diaz de Leon - BWIG
• Samuel Alkmin - BPAG

Advisor and Client

• Dr. Willis Tompkins - Advisor
• Dr. Amish Raval - Client
• Chuck Hatt - Alternate Contact

Related Projects

• Spring 2014: Ergonomic transthoracic cardiac echo probe holder
• Fall 2013: Ergonomic transthoracic cardiac echo probe holder