Project Overview |
The Cox-Maze procedure involves stopping the patient’s heart using cardioplegic solution. Currently, there is no method for physicians to know accurately when to stop the infusion of cardioplegic solution. Dr. Damiano proposed that temperature of the heart is a great indicator of whether the heart is stopped or not. There are several problems that we would need to solve in designing this project. First of all, some patients’ hearts are surrounded by fat, of which the temperature is not an accurate indicator. Thus we need to bypass the fat and measure the temperature of heart muscle. The second difficulty is that the Cox-Maze procedure is highly non-invasive, and the incision is very small. The device we design must not interfere with physicians’ operation procedure. And it needs to be able to stand on its own without physicians or assistants having to hold them in place. |