Philip George

I worked with Dr. Avanaki on brain signals and heart pulses and the various ways these various mechanics are implemented in animals as well as humans

 For the Fall 2023 semester, our team was tasked with prototyping a device to decrease patient discomfort while the patient undergoes a prostate biopsy procedure. A prostate biopsy is a procedure in which a male patient is laid down in the LLD (left lateral decubitus) while a urologist takes core prostate samples using an ultrasound (US) probe and needle. Prostate biopsy procedures are known to cause pain to the patient. There is a need for a solution to address patient discomfort since patient movement affects the time and sample extraction from the procedure. Our group made a reusable device that aims to help patient positioning and addressing patient discomfort since it is currently not available on the market. The intended purpose of the device is to reduce patient discomfort, be reusable, durable, and assist the accuracy of the procedure for the urologist. The task given to the group is to design a device that would satisfy requirements for holding the LLD position like maintaining an 95°-105° between the hip flexor and the legs while also preventing the patient from moving in excess of .0197”. The device's design includes a thigh support utilizing a rail and support carriage to be adjustable for different patient sizes. The patient will be laying on the mattress component of the device in the LLD position, to reduce discomfort and alleviate the time of the procedure.