Ms Yan Fang¹

¹Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

Abstract:

The removal of conventional stainless-steel staples is traumatic and painful for the patients, this is often performed in the operating theatre under anaesthesia, consuming precious resources, and manpower. There are currently no bioabsorbable alternatives commercially available on the market. This project aims to investigate and select possible candidate materials with suitable properties (such as biodegradability profile, strength, hardness, biocompatibility, cost, and availability), and to develop a functional staple prototype and perform basic mechanical testing through Finite Element Analysis (FEA) simulations as well as physical experiments. To develop a prototype, CAD models were constructed using SOLIDWORKS based on the dimensions for the APPOSE ULC (Medtronic 2022), which are the conventional metal staples that are currently used in burns clinics. The staples were 3D printed in PLA using a FDM printer- the Prusa i3 mk3. FEA simulations were used to verify the staple design could suitably relieve stress and strain concentrations and withstand the forces required to eject the staple (a point load of 5.7824 Newtons on each side). Mechanical testing was conducted using the Lloyds LRX plus tensile testers using a 3D printed fixture for holding the staple upright. The staples were compressed into simulated tattoo practice silicon skin to compare the puncture force with the APPOSE ULC staples. The results of our investigations and future directions will be presented.

References

Medtronic 2022, Appose™ Single Use Skin Staplers and Remover, https://www.medtronic.com/covidien/en-us/products/surgical-stapling/skin-staplers.html#appose-single-use-skin-stapler.html accessed 19 April 2022.

Biography:

A final year materials engineering and biomedical science undergraduate student at Monash.