Modelling medical devices: The application of bioenginering in surgery

Medical device technology has an increasingly important role in surgical pr ocedures. In this article, five case studies of bioengineering in surgery a re described as follows: computer-aided design of vascular grafts; middle-e ar prostheses; hip prosthesis stems for optimal cement pressurisation; prot otype development of a device for measurement of abdominal sounds for monit oring digestive tract activity and a hand-access device for laparoscopic su rgery. In each case, new bioengineering design methodologies are demonstrat ed. The general principles underlying the application of bioengineering in surgery are discussed.