PROSTHETIC AND ARTIFICIAL

ORGANS
SESSION: 12BME
SEMESTER: 7TH (FINAL YEAR)
SUBJECT TEACHER: HIBA
PERVAIZ
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Course Outline

Overview of Prosthesis with examples.

Overview of Artificial Organs with examples.
Limb Prosthesis-Functional requirements, Design criteria.
Joint Prosthesis- Joint pathologies, Important artificial joints.
Tissue reaction to implants, Types & failures of implanted joints.
Artificial Heart Valves- Cardiac anatomy & pathophysiology.
Prosthetic Heart valves, Evaluation of Prosthetic valves.
Sessional Test-I
Artificial Heart- Cardiac Anatomy & pathophysiology.
Heart assist technology, Evaluation of Blood pumps.
Cardiac pacemakers, Cardiac electrophysiology & pacemaker implantation.
Artificial Kidney- Nephron & mass transfer.
Dialysis procedure & dialysis system.
Artificial Lungs.
Artificial Pancreas.
Artificial Blood.
Materials used for artificial organs.
Artificial Organ design approaches.
Manufacturing Issues.
Sessional Test-II

LECT # 01

PROSTHESIS
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What Are Prosthetics?

Prosthetics are artificial limbs or
body parts, that replace missing
or malfunctioning body parts
Most common prosthesis are
the leg and arm, and more
recently also heart valves

Prosthetic Leg & Arm

What Are Prosthetics?

In a broader sense, prosthesis is the name for
any artifact that is used to restore bodily functions,
OR it is an artificial device used to replace a
missing body part such as a limb, tooth, eye or
heart valve.
prosthetics is the name of a field concerned
with the development and fitting of artificial body
parts.
Prostheses in this broader sense are an important
focus of the relatively new field of bioengineering,
or biomedical engineering, which is a branch of
engineering concerned with the application of
engineering techniques to medicine and the
biomedical sciences.
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Prosthetics, Orthotics,
Prosthodontics
In a narrow sense, prosthetics is a branch of
medicine, specifically of surgery, concerned
with the replacement of missing body parts
(upper and lower limbs, and parts thereof)
after amputation.
It is related to orthotics, which is a branch of
medicine that deals with the support of weak
or ineffective joints or muscles using
supportive braces and splints.
In dentistry, prosthetics or prosthodontics is
that branch concerned with the replacement of
missing teeth and other oral structures. In this
narrow sense, a prosthesis is a replacement
artificial limb or tooth.
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A United States Army soldier plays table

football with two prosthetic arms

Jon Comer, professional skateboarder

with a prosthetic leg.

The Beginning
Around 1500 B.C. was the time
when prosthetics were
engineered
Were not functional
Only purpose was to help with
movement
Were generally made of wood

The Push Towards Modern

Prosthetics
In the mid 1800s, Sir James Syme
discovered a way to amputate at
the thigh
This meant that there was a
possibility of walking again
Both World Wars were key in the
developmental progress of
prosthetics

Design Breakthroughs
In the early 1800s, James Potts designed
the first wooden functional prosthetic foot,
which was controlled by tendons from the
knee to the foot
In the mid 1900s, prosthetics now had a
endo-skeletal design instead of a exoskeletal
This allowed the hard shell-like exterior to
be replaced with a foam cover, so the
weight and force was applied to the core
of the prosthetic rather than the exterior

Evolution

Causes
the most common causes of amputation are:
Disease (70%)
Trauma (22%)
Congenital or Birth Defects (4%)
Tumors (4%)
Diseases that can cause amputation are varied, but the
most common ones are vascular disease and diabetes.
Vascular disease limits the circulation to the extremities.
Diabetes, which affects blood sugar, can decrease the
body's ability to heal itself.
Trauma resulting in amputation is most frequently
related to motor vehicle accidents and industrial
accidents.
Congenital malformation or birth defects can result
in either the person having no limb or a very short limb
that is treated as an amputation, for which a prosthetic
device is made.
Tumors of the bone, called osteosarcoma, can
sometimes be treated by amputation of the limb.

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Bioengineering and
Prosthetics
Several areas in bioengineering have
special relevance to prosthetics.
Rehabilitation engineering is an area
concerned with the application of
engineering science to restructure the
handicaps of individuals with disabilities. It
includes prosthetics and orthotics but also
addresses other disabilities, specifically
sensory and speech impairments. It does
not address functional impairments in
internal organs, however.
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 Tissue engineering, which involves

the repair or replacement of organic
cells, tissues, or organs with
laboratory-grown biological
substitutes; biomaterials engineering,
which aims at the development of
synthetic or natural materials that
can replace or augment tissues,
organs or body functions;
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 Biomechanics, which studies the human

musculoskeletal system and its
mechanical aspects and includes artificial
limb and joint design;
Cardiovascular engineering, which
studies the cardiovascular and blood
system and develops techniques and
systems for diagnosis, intervention,
therapy and replacement.
neural engineering, which studies the
nervous system and develops means to
repair or replace damaged and nonfunctioning nerves and sensory systems.
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 Neuro-prosthetics is a rapidly
growing subfield of neural
engineering that aims to develop
devices or systems that communicate
with nerves to restore functionality of
the nervous system.

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Development in Prosthetics

Currently, a large number of human biological functions can

already be restored or improved with the aid of prostheses.
Implants and devices that were in use includes:
artificial limbs, including robotic ones and ones with sensory
feedback to the body;
artificial muscles made of polymer;
artificial skin used to promote healing;
artificial joints, hips and vertebrae;
artificial bone used to help heal fractures and replace
diseased bone;
dental implants and false teeth;
silicone or plastic implants to build bony structures of the
face;
speech synthesizers and artificial larynxes to restore speech;

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 vessels and urological systems;

artificial blood (experimental);
retinal implants (experimental), intraocular
lenses and artificial corneas to restore vision;
Cochlear implants that replace the inner ear
and involve a microphone, speech processor
and wiring to the nervous system;
artificial nerves (experimental);
electrodes implanted in the brain to control
seizures or tremor;
breast implants;
cardiac pacemakers, defibrillators, artificial
heart valves and heart-assist pumps;
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 artificial hearts;
implanted chips to locate persons or
to regulate devices in intelligent
environments;
implanted drug delivery systems
(experimental);
Research is underway on bioartificial
livers, kidneys, pancreases, lungs,
and other organs, as well as on more
advanced neural prostheses to
restore functions of the brain and
nervous system.
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