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Medical device to treat syringomyelia

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Project Overview

Syringomyelia is a rare disease that affects 20,000 people in the United States every year. The disease is usually linked with Chiari I Malformations, which lead to cysts in the spinal cord. Overtime, this cyst can damage neighboring nervous tissue causing severe symptoms. Currently, the only treatment method is cranial decompression surgery that is a high risk operation that also is very costly. Additionally, there are no current products on the market to resolve Syringomyelia. The initial goal of this project was to create a surgical approach that would resolve Syringomyelia, possibly by decreasing the pressure, velocity, and turbulence of CSF. However, due to a severe lack of foundational information in the scientific community, no substantial design could be made to treat Syringomyelia. Therefore, a proposed physical model utilizing pressure sensors and flow transducers will be designed to test the effects prototypes have on fluid dynamics in the cranial vault and foramen magnum.

Team Picture

Team members from left to right: Jack Metzger, Jack Stamer, Susan Xia, Mitchell Korbell
Team members from left to right: Jack Metzger, Jack Stamer, Susan Xia, Mitchell Korbell

Contact Information

Team Members

  • Mitchell Korbel - Team Leader
  • Susan Xia - Communicator
  • Jack Metzger - BSAC
  • Jack Stamer - BWIG & BPAG

Advisor and Client

  • Prof. Naomi Chesler - Advisor
  • Dr. Victor Haughton - Client

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