Dynamic Bracing for Pectus Carinatum: A Quantitative Analysis

The most common solution to pectus carinatum is surgical. As braces begin to be developed that have been seen to reshape the chest successfully it becomes important to understand the effectiveness and optimal design thereof. Braceworks, has managed to create a low profile prototype brace which contains a protocol on how long to wear the device. However, only qualitative data has been collected and very little quantitative. Therefore, the project seeks to gain more information on what this protoype does to the chest wall as a whole, and how much force it applies to the chest. Currently, the amount of force the PCO applies is determined by how comfortable the prototype is on the child. By gaining this information, Braceworks will be able to develop the device and related protocol even further by creating a more user friendly PCO.

Faculty Supervisor:

Dr. Janet Ronsky

Student:

Tomasz Bugajski

Partner:

Braceworks

Discipline:

Engineering - biomedical

Sector:

Manufacturing

University:

University of Calgary