A team of students in the College of Engineering was awarded with $10,000 to create a tool that improves surgical safety and reduces the costs of X-ray surgical procedure imaging.
According to a press release, the team won top prizes in entrepreneurship contests across Idaho, which helped them get money to patent their project. They came first in the Idaho Women’s Business Symposium Pitch-Off in Fort Hall, won the Idaho Pitch at UI, and got second place in the technology category at the Idaho Entrepreneur Challenge held by Boise State University.
During complex surgeries, a device known as C-arms takes deep tissue X-ray images. C-arms are constantly being repositioned during surgery, adding an additional 20-40 minutes to a procedure.
UI engineering students paired with Whitman Hospital and Medical Clinics in Colfax, Washington, to create a new technique to precisely locate C-arm placement during surgery, to significantly reduce surgery times and costs, and to reduce patients’ exposure to X-ray radiation.
Last fall, orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Douglas Hiller at Whitman Hospital, explained to the UI student team the problem with C-arm X-ray machines. Hiller has worked closely with students to solve problems he’s encountered during his practice for over 35 years
“For surgeons, the C-arm is a huge distraction and cause of frustration. It’s cumbersome and difficult to move, and we end up with many more images than are needed. I’ve been thinking about this project since 1988,” Hiller said.
The team of students includes the project manager Hailey Faith, along with members Hunter Holbrook, Kyle Fiske, Toby Mclenon, Alphonse Crittenden, and Turner Zischka.
“Our retrofitted guidance system allows the technician to see the coordinates in the real-time image and save them in the system. That makes it easy to direct the C-arm back to the original position” Faith said.