Monday, April 20, 2020
To support medical centers and other hospitals in the battle against Covid-19 (the coronavirus), all sorts of new medtech initiatives are emerging in the delta region. Each of them shows the creativity and willingness to interdisciplinary cooperation in the region.
We have listed some examples below and will share inspiring examples in the coming weeks.
Scientists design ventilator made entirely of standard parts
A project team of scientists active in the Medical Delta region is testing the first prototypes of a ventilator consisting entirely of standard parts. These parts are locally available almost everywhere in the world and are made by hundreds of manufacturers. As a result, the ventilator can in many cases be assembled locally. The design hopes to be able to respond to the demand for ventilators and the logistical problems there are to produce these due to a shortage of specific parts.
The project team of scientists consists of engineers from the Biomechanical Engineering department of the 3ME faculty of TU Delft. They work together with clinicians at Erasmus MC and LUMC. This exchange of knowledge between engineers and clinicians is typical for Medical Delta collaborations. The project team is led by Prof. Amir Zadpoor, Professor at TU Delft and a scientific leader of the Medical Delta program Regenerative Medicine 4D.
More information can be found via this link
Students design ventilator
In a project called ‘OperationAIR’, students and experts are working on the design of a simple and relatively inexpensive ventilator to cover possible shortages caused by the corona crisis. The team brings together knowledge of technology and medicine.
The starting points for the design are that it is safe, it can be used anywhere, it can be produced quickly and that it is relatively easy to use. It is not intended to replace existing ventilation equipment, but serves as an emergency solution when shortages arise.
The team was initially set up by students of the Medical Delta master's program Technical Medicine and program director Prof. Dr. Jaap Harlaar. The team has now been expanded with students from other disciplines, including Biomedical Engineering, Industrial Design Engineering and Applied Physics. In addition to companies, TU Delft, LUMC, Erasmus MC and TU Eindhoven are involved.
More information can be found via this link.
Sterilize used mouth masks
A team consisting of Dr Tim Horeman (TU Delft, Medical Delta NIMIT: Novel Instruments for Minimally Invasive Techniques), Dr John van den Dobbelsteen (TU Delft, Medical Delta NIMIT, Medical Delta Living Lab ResearchOK) and the company Van Straten Medical started a project to investigate how mouth masks can be sterilized for reuse.
This possibility should reduce the pressure on the shortage of mouth masks. The first results are promising. In addition to TU Delft, Reinier de Graaf Gasthuis, Sint Franciscus Gasthuis and LUMC are also involved.
More information can be found via this link.
Physical exercise game breaks through social isolation of the elderly
The coronavirus has a major impact on the social contacts of the elderly. Now that visitors are not recommended and many nursing and care homes are closed to the outside world, social isolation threatens many elderly people. In order to break this deadlock, the initiative to play online has been accelerated. It is one of the e-Health projects supported by the delta region.
Samenspelen.online was set up by multiple companies, like Games for Health. With samenspelen.online, the elderly come into contact with children and young people and they can play online games together. One of the games that will come on this portal is a physical exercise game. Child physiotherapy Regio Westland participates in this. Participants of the physio exercise game playfully exercise their body coordination.
By taking different body positions together, they train stability and propriocepsis in the transfer from visualization to body position.
Child physiotherapy Regio Westland and Games for Health are both participants in the application for a new Medical Delta Living Lab: Medical Delta Living Lab Vit for Life.
TU Delft and the Rotterdam University of Applied Science are working on a simple tool to measure oxygen saturation in COVID-19 patients
Dr. Arjo Loeve and his research colleagues at TU Delft’s department of BioMechanical Engineering are working together with the Jeroen Bosch Hospital and Hogeschool Rotterdam on a new pulse oximeter that is easy and inexpensive to produce. The pulse oximeter is a crucial measurement tool that measures the heartbeat and amount of oxygen in the blood while COVID-19 patients are treated.
The aim of the research is to counteract the impending shortage of this tool. Both TU Delft and the Rotterdam University of Applied Science are affiliated with Medical Delta.
More information can be found via this link
