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Senior Capstone Design Project: Group 13
2024-2025 Academic Year
The Team
B.S. Biomedical Engineering
M.S Mechanical Engineering
Class of 2025
B.S. Biomedical Engineering
M.S Mechanical Engineering
Class of 2025
B.S. Biomedical Engineering
Class of 2025
The Client
Samuel Brehm
Sam is an MD/MBA student at WashU! Sam graduated from Rice University with a mechanical engineering major and cell biology and biochemistry minor before heading to St. Louis to attend the Washington University School of Medicine. Sam is pursuing an MBA and conducting clinical neurosurgical research after completing two years of medical school. Sam chose a future in medicine because he wanted a job where “I could be on my feet, using my hands, and helping people in real-time.” Sam saw the need for a novel endovascular treatment for cerebral aneurysms and has been a valuable innovator in this field ever since.
The Problem
Middle Cerebral Artery Bifurcation Aneurysms (MCABAs) are a specific type of cerebral aneurysm that forms as a result of a specific artery geometry where a parent vessel splits into two daughter vessels. At the split junction, pressure builds from incoming flow from the parent vessel resulting in a wide-neck bifurcation aneurysm.
Middle Cerebral artery bifurcation aneurysm (neurochirurgie.insel.ch)
Traditionally, two main treatments for aneurysms are clipping, where a clip is applied at the base of the aneurysm and the aneurysm head is surgically removed, or coiling, where small platinum coils are inserted into the aneurysm head endovascularly through a catheter such that a blood clot around the coil to block off flow to the aneurysm.
Aneurysm coiling (left, drimtiazahmad.com) and Surgical clipping (right, indiahospitaltour.com)
Typically, endovascular treatment methods are preferred because they are effective and minimally invasive, especially when compared to surgical clipping. However, the wide neck of MCABAs causes complications when using coiling since the bulk coil cannot be held within the head of the aneurysm and instead, falls out of the head. This poses a gap in current technology for MCABA treatment. Thus, there is a need for an effective endovascular treatment method for MCABAs.