Progress Report 3

Our team received important input from several mentors, including Melanie McWade, Dr. James Broome, and Dr. Matthew Walker.

Michael Zhou and Itamar Shapira observed a thyroidectomy at VUMC conducted by Dr. James Broome, leading to characterization of several clinical needs.  The incision is “minimally invasive,” meaning that any instrumentation used must be able to be inserted into a highly confined space.  The operating room can become quite crowded, meaning that a most of the instrumentation should be placed away from the clinicians’ ergonomically important area.  The probe should be detachable such that it does not constrict a passageway.

Several  approaches to parathyroid perfusion determination were eliminated. Approaches considering metabolic factors, such as hypoxia, changes in pH, and buildup of NADH were dismissed due to the time dependency associated with such techniques and the necessity of interpreting a response curve.

Mechanotransducers, such as those used for detecting vascular stiffness were eliminated due to undesirable contact with tissue.

Methods requiring injection of a dye were eliminated given clinician sentiment.

Dr. Walker highlighted the strength of quantitative, where possible, and suggested a more detailed examination of the vascularity associated with the parathyroid gland.  Lastly, he suggested the creation of a phantom for POC examination.  His suggestions contributed to revisions of the NCIIA grant proposal.

Currently, two techniques are leading candidates for implementation in the coming semester: laser Doppler flowmetry, and laser speckle imaging.  We will present our findings to our faculty research mentor, Dr. Mahadevan-Jansen, Tuesday.