"There has to be an easier way"
Dalhousie Surgeon Michael Dunbar leads team to create the Femoral Fracture Reduction Device - a device that in critically difficult cases, will eliminate invasive surgery in potentially life-threatening fractures of the femur.
Key Points:
A femur, or long bone injury, can be life-threating if not dealt with quickly. Such an injury is often sustained during a car accident or heavy fall and usually one of many ailments. If not reduced, displaced fat and marrow can cause a life-threatening fat embolism in the lungs.
To reduce the fracture, surgeons operate remotely from the top of the femur, placing a nail in the bone canal - and inserting screws across the nail to keep it in place. If the fracture cannont be properly aligned, the nail cannot be inserted. Surgeons must then open the femure to align the bone, but this more invasive procedure is viewed as a last resort.
Dalhousie Surgeon Michael Dunbar thought of a device that could be used to reduce difficult fractures that can't be aligned without cutting the femur. He and medical student Dave Wilson, enlisted four senior engineering students to develop the Femoral Fracture Reduction Device, an innovative tool has the potential to eliminate the need to open a patient's femur during femoral fracture surgeries - reducing OR time, blood loss and morbidity and improve healing.
Pull Quotes:
"It's a bit analogous to stripping the bark on a tree. If you have to open the femur, it can delay the healing." Michael Dunbar, orthopedic surgeon and professor in Dalhousie's department of surgery on why opening the femur is a last resort for surgeons.
"(The device) could mean that for difficult fractures you can't get reduced, there will be a device that avoids cutting into the femur." Dave Wilson, second year Dalhousie medical student and Dalhousie biomedical engineering graduate on what the Femoral Fracture Reduction Device will mean to the industry.
"It won't be needed for all cases, but when it is, it will reduce OR time, be less invasive, reduce blood loss, morbidity and improve healing - that's the promise of it." Michael Dunbar, orthopedic surgeon and professor in Dalhousie's department of surgery on what the Femoral Fracture Reduction Device will mean to patient recovery.
Images:
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| Femoral Fracture Reduction Device prototype Femoral Fracture Reduction Device inserted into replica of broken femur Download Hi-Res | Michael Dunbar and students Dr. Michael Dunbar and engineering students Michael Lasaga, Riley Wilson, Xiang Gong and Andrew Allan examine the device Download Hi-Res | Femoral Fracture Reduction Device prototype 2 Femoral Fracture Reduction Device inserted into replica of broken femur Download Hi-Res | Michael Dunbar and students Michael Lasaga, Riley Wilson, Xiang Gong and Andrew Allan with Dr. Michael Dunbar (centre) and Dave Wilson (right) Download Hi-Res |
Videos:
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| Surgeon Michael Dunbar Speaking on the injuries that inspired his device Download high resolution version (broadcast ready). | Surgeon Michael Dunbar Speaking about the device Download high resolution version (broadcast ready). |
Resource Links:
Dalhousie Links:
Contacts:
- Billy Comeau, 902.494.6880; william.comeau@dal.ca
