Virtual Engineering Week is bringing a full week of best-in-class education to the global design, engineering, and manufacturing communities. Join us each morning to hear from medical device industry professionals during the Medtech Mornings series, and in the afternoons to learn from engineering and manufacturing experts in areas like 3D printing, smart manufacturing, packaging, materials and sustainability, and career development.
All times listed below are PST (Pacific Standard Time).
Alex Tongue (CTO, The Shape Sensing Company)
Date: Thursday, December 3
Time: 9:15am - 9:45am
Track: Tech Theater
Vault Recording: TBD
A revolutionary medical device technology
The Shape Sensing Company is bringing to market a technology which senses and displays the location and shape of a thin, flexible, optical fiber. This technology is quickly proving to be a revolutionary navigation and visualization tool in the medical industry because of its ability to be easily integrated into a multitude of surgical tools, its visualization of device location and shape with unrestricted viewing angles, and its ability to minimize or even replace the use of fluoroscopy. When integrated into devices such as catheters and endoscopes, fiber optic shape sensing calculates 3D coordinates for every point along the tool from its proximal end to its distal end. These coordinates may be overlaid on 3D CT scans or MRI images to provide a full three-dimensional view of where the device is located within patient anatomy. This presentation will provide an overview of how 3D shape sensing works, we will discuss the sensors, integration and output, and provide some examples of medical applications.
