Weekly Reports

Week 3 Report

We have identified our client, Dr. Justin Sacks, alongside meeting with PA’s who deal with limb volumetric measurements for lymphedema patients. We have scheduled biweekly meetings with the client, as well as weekly meetings within the group. We are in the process of coordinating meetings with physical therapists and PAs to undergo more customer interviews. We are gaining a robust real world understanding of our need, and the impact it will have in customer lives. We have also conducted literature reviews on the state of art and challenges of multiple limb volumetric measurement techniques, as well as lymphedema in general. 

Week 4 Report

We met with occupational therapist Sarah Fench, who does rehabilitation and reconstruction therapy for lymphedema patients. We gained valuable insights on how the circumferential tape measurements are done by watching an instructional video provided by the WashU to train upcoming therapists. We have also delegated different sections of the preliminary report to group members. 

We are continuing our background research into our problem. More interviews, discussions, and meetings are being scheduled.

Week 5 Report

Goals for next week:

This is the site for all PT at WashU, we should be reaching out to 1-2 every week and always talking.

This week, we

  • Reached out to 5 other clinicians who are involved with using limb volumetric measurements for lymphedema. 
  • Presented our poster at Sling Health’s Problem Day
  • Finished our preliminary report 
  • Prepared slides for the presentation

Week 6 Report

Week 7:

To-Do: 

  1. Update Google docs and make more concise and organized
    1. Meeting notes with PT, PA, etc.
    2. Meeting notes with just our groups
    3. To do lists
    4. Weekly reports
  2. Change weekly reports to bullet points
  3. Update Website (due Oct 9th)
  4. Start brainstorming about solutions (meeting Oct 8th)
    1. Each member brings 3 ideas to the discussion.
    2. Plan date and time for this
  5. Meeting with Sacks (next Fri, Sat morning)
  6. Meeting with Allie French (Oct 8th 10:30am)

What we did:

  • Raymond finished Preliminary presentation
  • Start thinking about design ideas
  • Set up meetings for next week

Week 7 Report

What we did:

  • Brainstormed ideas for device
    • Some sort of ring that reflects waves to pinpoint location/surface of the limb
    • Material that can move up and down according to surface of limb
      • Motion/location of the material can create volume
    • Wearable sleeve/cloth with sensors to measure limb volume
    • Track specific biomarkers of lymphedema and quantify them using specific wavelength of light
    • Auto-tape measure device
      • Some sort of torque analyzer that senses tape tension
      • Button for release the tape, button for tightening tape
      • monitor to display circumference in cm
  • Our group went to shadow Allie during her clinic hours on Tuesday, Oct 8
    • We got to interview two patients and watch them get measured with circumferential technique and bioimpedance spectroscopy (SOZO machine)
  • We launched our website
    • sites.wustl.edu/lymphedemadiagnostics

Week 8 Report

Team Checklist

  • We brainstormed ideas. First, we brainstormed individually for a couple of minutes, then presented our ideas to the whole group. We combined and built on each other’s ideas to form 5-6 main solutions.
  • updated Dr. Sacks on our preliminary findings regarding limb volumetric measurements and went over the design specifications of the proposed device with him
  • Updated design specifications
  • Mati:
  • Web Design Updates

Davin:

  • Emailed Sarah Fench and Allie French about network expansion

Raymond:

  • Web Design Development 

To Do:

Raymond and Mati:

  • Prepared presentation slides for Sling Health Design Review I
  • Conduct more literature review on potential solutions

Davin Hickman-Chow:

  • Reach out to Klaesner about ideations meeting
  • Reach out to more therapists
    • Stacy Tylka 
    • Dr. Anna Rose Johnson
  • Prepare DR 1 Deliverables
  • Conduct more literature review on potential solutions

Week 9 Report

Team Checklist:

  • Conducted market research for our device. (Target Market Size, Competitors, Barriers to
    entry)
  • Did more patent searches
  • Updated the preliminary design specifications
  • Submitted a deliverable document for Sling Health Design Review 1
  • Presented at Sling Health Design Review 1
  • Reached out to more MOTs

Week 10 Report

Team Checklist:

  • Contacted Stacy Tylka, PT to set up a meeting and gain more insight into our problem
  • Conducted literature search and came up with 4 more possible solutions
  • Met with Dr. Klaesner to discuss the feasibility of possible solutions

To do:

  • Conduct literature search on feasibility of brainstormed solutions
  • Contact more clients to conduct customer interviews
  • Complete Pugh chart for possible solutions

Week 11 Report

Team Checklist:

  • Conducted client interview with Stacy Tylka, PT
    • We asked Stacy about the general background of the problem, including lack of iterative reliability and time inefficiency. We also discussed how many patients a typical physical therapist sees in a day, how many visits they have in a week, and over how many weeks. We also asked about the frequency of circumferential measurements. At the end, we talked about her ideal solution and she referred us to the research scientist, Phillip Budge, for further information. 
  • Started drafting budget proposal and designs for our solution
  • Started making DR 2 presentation for Sling Health
  • Reached out to Dr. Phillip Budge, who created a 3D volume reconstruction device for lymphedema, to set up a meeting next week

Week 12 Report

Team Checklist:

  • Met with Dr. Phillip Budge, who is a MD, PhD specializing filarial infections
    • We talked about his partnership with Lymphatech to develop the device, which uses infrared camera and point cloud analysis to reconstruct the volume of the patient’s feet. He told us about some of the disadvantages of their innovation, including difficulty of use without prior training and motion artifacts. 
  • Discussed potential modifications to lymphatech as new design alternatives
  • Met with patent attorney Myers Dill at Husch Blackwell to discuss the necessary steps for securing a patent, evaluate potential market entry barriers, and determine whether our filing might infringe on existing patents.
  • Finished working on Design Review II deliverable document for Sling Health

    Week 13 Report

    Team Checklist: