OPTIMIZATION OF A VENTILATION TUBE APPLICATOR

Abstract

Otitis Media with Effusion (OME) is an ear disease that affects young children, and is characterized by a collection of fluid in the middle ear space. A typical treatment of persistent OME is by a surgical procedure performed in an operating theatre under general anesthesia. The Ventilation Tube Applicator (VTA) is an automated surgical device that transforms this surgery into an office-based procedure that can be performed under local anesthesia. However, VTA has several challenges that would limit its usefulness in a clinical setting. Factors such as excessive force and deformation of the eardrum, and patient variability resulting in different eardrum angles and diverse viscoelasticity properties of the eardrum are some limitations that the VTA has to overcome. The thesis will discuss these challenges and propose several methods to optimize VTA so that it can move one step closer from a lab prototype towards clinical trials.