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| The researchers from Rice University |
Many resource-poor settings are not able to provide cervical cancer screening, diagnosis, and treatment of women population because of lack of training. A team of students from Rice University has designed a 3-D Printed Models of the cervix that can help the healthcare providers to train them to carry out screening and provide treatment for cervical cancer.
This will be specifically used for training doctors and nurses in developing countries and low-resource areas in the U.S.
Cervical cancer kills nearly 300,000 women every year and more than 80% deaths are reported in developing countries. In about 90% of patients, the cervical cancer is preventable.
Rice students Christine Luk, Elizabeth Stone and Rachel Lambert are senior design students enrolled in the course Global Health Design. Together with graduate student Sonia Parra, they developed a low-cost, interactive training model that mimics a woman’s pelvic region and can be used to practice different cervical cancer screening and treatment procedures.
The simple device includes different models of cervix showing evolving stages of cervical cancer from entirely normal to pre-cancerous to definitive cancer. The models fit into holder placed at the back of the device.
The training doctor or nurse can have real-life experience of what it looks like at the doctor’s office after the speculum is inserted and the cervix is visualized. The models can easily be switched around to simulate different conditions of the cervix and they also respond to the application of hot water just as a gynecologist applies acetic acid in clinical settings.
In addition to the training aspect, the device also is handy in teaching the doctors and nurses about how to proceed with abnormal results of the screening tests or a lesion is seen during the examination.
Some cervical models are made of a ballistic gel, that allows the doctors to practice colposcopy, cervical biopsy; cryotherapy, and loop electrosurgical excision procedure at low costs.
“Here in the states we have the ability to perform Pap smears and other practices, but in other countries where this model is used, such as Mozambique and El Salvador, they may not have the necessary infrastructure to do so,” Christine Luk said. “That’s why it’s important that this model can train as many procedures as possible.”
The students have already tested the device in training clinics in El Salvador and the Rio Grande Valley in Texas. Each training session is modified to fit the specific needs of an area.
The team from Rice is trying to collaborate with manufacturers to mass produce the device for areas in need so newly trained medical providers can train others.
Here is a video about how the device works
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