Second Generation Medical Implant Device for Correcting Short Bowel Syndrome.

Abstract

Short bowel syndrome (SBS) is a serious and often fatal condition in which the small intestine is too short to absorb sufficient nutrients. SBS has 30% mortality rate and current treatments have low success rates. Researchers at the University of Michigan Medical School and the College of Engineering are collaborating to develop a new treatment for SBS using mechanotransduction. Mechanotransduction is the biological response to an aplied physical stress. In many biological tissues (including bone, skin, and bowel), an applied load will stimulate the tissue to grow. The goal of this project is to design and manufacture a fully implantable bowel extending device that is capable of fourfold extension. This device must also integrate a battery, circuit board, and load cell and fit inside a pediatric abdominal cavity. Ideally, this device will also be able to conform to the curvature of the abdominal cavity and allow passage of fluid through the bowel.