Week 4: Laryngoscope Time
March 31, 2023
Hello everyone! Welcome back to my blog.
Introduction:
After meeting with my advisor, we decided to start by modeling a Lindholm laryngoscope. For brief context, it’s a laryngoscope that’s used in surgeries. The hollow tube at the base allows special tubes to be inserted through them. These tubes contain tools (i.e. a camera) that help with the surgery. For reference, I’ve attached an image of some below.
Figure 1: Lindholm Laryngoscopes. Source: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Systematic-Direct-Laryngoscopy%3A-The-Lindholm-Benjamin-Lindholm/efaa398e07f8addd3e6f67702930e5390fa3bb2c
Modeling:
The modeling for this laryngoscope will likely take 1-2 weeks. I’ve printed some designs, which I will go over briefly. However, the main issue with this laryngoscope is its size. One model takes roughly 15 hours to print, so I have to get it right on the first few tries. So far, I am only tackling the adult-sized laryngoscope, since that is most common, and the sizes can be easily adjusted.
Attempt 1:
For the following two models, I printed them at a scale of 1:2.54, so the printing time was much more manageable (~2 hours). The entire tube at the bottom, which is supposed to be hollow, is filled with PVA. Why? I had thought the handle on the top was hollow. After correcting this, I no longer had to deal with hollow tubes filled with PVA. The end of the hollow base also had the wrong shape, which I later corrected.
Figure 2: First printing of a Lindholm Laryngoscope
Attempt 2:
For the second model, I corrected both problems listed above. The resulting print was quite close to a real model of the laryngoscope. All that is left is for my mentor and me to go over the dimensions and fix them.
Figure 3: First printing of a Lindholm Laryngoscope
Hopefully, I will have a full-size laryngoscope printed by next week. See you all then! Thanks for reading.
Sincerely,
Derrick Liu
Sources:
Paydarfar, Joseph & Wu, Xiaotian & Halter, Ryan. (2016). MRI- and CT-Compatible Polymer Laryngoscope: A Step toward Image-Guided Transoral Surgery. Otolaryngology — Head and Neck Surgery. 155. 10.1177/0194599816650176.
Benjamin, Bruce N. and C‐E. Lindholm. “Systematic Direct Laryngoscopy: The Lindholm Laryngoscopes.” Annals of Otology, Rhinology & Laryngology 112 (2003): 787 – 797.