Abstract
For healthcare to be effective, it must be accessible: affordable, low-burden, and patient-centered. Thus, as a biomedical engineer, it is crucial to design and implement technology that is equitable to diverse populations. Through the technical capstone and STS research projects, I sought to develop accessible healthcare solutions to improve patient outcomes.
Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative joint disease that affects approximately 4% of U.S. adults, or over 10 million people. Knee OA is characterized by the progressive breakdown of cartilage surrounding the knee, leading to chronic pain, functional decline, and significant healthcare expenses. Severe cases are often treated with total knee replacement surgeries, which are physically and financially taxing. Thus, this is not a feasible option for lower-income individuals, elderly populations, or those with inflexible family or work obligations. Given the lack of conservative options to manage knee OA, Icarus Medical Innovations developed the Adonis, an orthopedic knee brace that permits OA management from the comfort of an individual’s home. The Adonis Knee Brace uses joint distraction technology and a three-point unloader mechanism to provide support to individuals with knee OA. The brace can also be custom-fit, ensuring that it is suitable for different body types.
Through the technical capstone project, we characterized the brace via clinical, computational, and market lenses. The technical report details the process of working with the University of Virginia Institutional Review Board to propose a clinical study, developing an OpenSim model to simulate load bearing on the knee, and conducting a literature review to determine the Adonis’s position within the knee orthotic industry. By preparing documents for an Institutional Review Board-approved clinical study, we brought Icarus Medical one step closer towards evaluating the brace on patients. Using the OpenSim model, we developed a pipeline to analyze the support forces of the Adonis knee brace on a 10-degree varus knee over the course of the gait cycle. Through the market comparability analysis, we identified measurable goals for Icarus Medical to ensure that the brace is effective within the industry. Thus, by developing systems to improve brace performance and efficacy, this capstone project aided in the improvement of an accessible treatment option for knee OA.
Women are often underrepresented or overlooked in healthcare. Medication doses, clinical diagnoses protocols, and medical devices often do not equitably serve women. Routine cancer screening procedures, such as mammograms and pap smears, are an example of a technology that does not center women in its design. Over 1 million women are diagnosed with cancer each year, leading to over 300,000 deaths. Given that breast and cervical cancers are some of the most common cancers in women worldwide, routine cancer screening is necessary for earlier detection and intervention, thus reducing cancer-associated mortality. However, many women find these screening procedures to be painful or uncomfortable.
To determine which aspects of these procedures required improvement, I conducted a Qualtrics survey to better understand women’s perspectives on mammograms and pap smears. The survey confirmed that many women find these procedures to be painful or anxiety-inducing, indicating that technological improvement and mental health support systems are necessary to reduce pain and anxiety, respectively. Thus, by prioritizing patient-centered technology and support structures associated with the routine cancer screening experience, this research seeks to improve healthcare accessibility and equitability for women.
