OPTO

Regulated Tube Shunt for Glaucoma

 

Member profile details

Membership level
2011-2012 Team
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Team Name
OPTO
Project Title
Regulated Tube Shunt for Glaucoma
Design Challenge
Glaucoma afflicts 60 million people and is the 2nd leading cause of blindness worldwide. Current tube shunts often cause hypotony within the first six weeks of implantation, a problem surgeons currently fix with ad hoc solutions. Our goal is to develop a tube shunt that has a functional regulatory valve with a reliable target pressure.
Design Summary
We have designed a valve-regulated tube shunt for the treatment of glaucoma. Our tube shunt will lower and provide precise control of intraocular pressure (IOP), resulting in better clinical outcomes for glaucoma patients.

The device will address the following needs:
-Current tube shunts lack an effective method for regulating fluid flow, often leading to dangerously low eye pressure. This usually occurs during the first six weeks after implantation due to lack of resistance to flow.
-After six weeks, the device becomes encapsulated by fibrous tissue. This adds resistance that can result in high eye pressure, causing other complications.
-Effective regulation of eye pressure will stop the progression of vision loss.

After a literature review and consultation with surgeons, we developed the following design criteria, listed in order of importance:
-Functionality: Equilibrate IOP between 8 and 14 mmHg during the first 6 weeks following implantation and beyond.
-Size: Limited area around the eye and concerns for patient comfort make design dimensions inflexible.
-Implantation Complexity: Valve implantation procedure should be similar to current procedures to minimize the invasiveness and surgical risk.
-Cost: Costs should be minimized to ensure that the design is market competitive and will be used in medical practice. (<$1000)
-Durability: The shunt must be able to withstand a physiological range of pressures and the forces associated with handling and implantation.

We have tested our design using an in vitro microfluidic setup and have iterated between differing parameters for our testing valve. After our testing, we have found that reaching precise measurements at the micro-scale proved difficult. We have found parameters that allowed for equilibration above hypotony. With precise tools, we believe that we can find the ideal parameters that will allow for pressure equilibration within our target range. Further in vitro and in vivo studies need to be performed to verify equilibration pressure after 6 weeks.
Sponsors
BCM Cullen Eye Center
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Department(s)
  • Bioengineering
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Faculty Advisor 1 - Name
Matthew Wettergreen
Faculty Advisor 2 - Name
Maria Oden
 

Team Members

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Contact us

Oshman Engineering Design Kitchen
Rice University

6100 Main Street MS 390 | Houston, Texas | 77005

Phone: 713.348.OEDK

Email: oedk@rice.edu

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