356 An Unfortunate Case of Spinal Injury and Bladder Dysfunction During the Covid-19 Pandemic

There is no doubt that COVID-19 has had a profound impact on every medical and surgical speciality. In the height of the pandemic many non-emergency services were shut down, including dental services, with unexpected consequences. We present a case which highlights the unexpected and indirect consequences of a national lockdown on a Urology patient and discuss learning points. A 54-year-old male, previously fit and well suffered with a small dental abscess, media outlets were reporting that dental surgeries were closed, and he therefore attempted to drain the abscess himself. The infection spread to his epidural space, causing compression via a collection at L2 and consequently spinal cord injury. This was managed with urgent lumbar decompression and antibiotics. A specialist functional urology team were involved after his transfer to the tertiary spinal unit 3 months after his first presentation. He was catheterised but suffered with recurrent catheter blockages. Video urodynamics demonstrated a stable bladder with a low-pressure leak point, managed with urethral catheterisation. A repeat video urodynamics demonstrated a loss of compliance and stress incontinence. Unclear as to whether he would regain function rehabilitation techniques are currently being attempted prior for definitive operative management with an artificial sphincter. This case highlights the indirect impact of COVID-19 on UK urology services, and this has not been widely reported.

The study for constant force characteristic of C-shaped superelastic SMA

Clamping devices with constant force or pressure are desired in medical device, such as hemostatic forceps and the artificial sphincter, to prevent soft tissues from injures due to overloading. It is easily obtained by stretching an SMA wire. However, studies with SMA bending round bar have seldom been reported before. This paper studied constant force characteristic of C-shaped round bar with shape memory alloys. Optimization designs of the components were carried out with computational simulation. Numerical results show that the phenomenon of constant force strongly depends on contour curve shape and geometric dimensions of the C-shaped round bar of SMA component.

Dr. A. H. Buckmaster. — The Vaginal Anus and its Treatment, as illustraded by the Report of a Case and a Suggestion for a Method of Forming an artificial Sphincter. (New-Iork Med. Journ., 1894, 11 / VIII, pp. 168-176). Anus vaginalis and its treatment from one case report and a plan for the formation of an artificial sphincter

Dr. A. H. Buckmaster. The Vaginal Anus and its Treatment, as illustraded by the Report of a Case and a Suggestion for a Method of Forming an artificial Sphincter. (New-Iork Med. Journ., 1894, 11 / VIII, pp. 168-176). Anus vaginalis and its treatment from one case report and a plan for the formation of an artificial sphincter

Design Method for Constant Force Components Based on Superelastic SMA

Clamping devices with constant force or pressure are desired in medical instruments, such as hemostatic forceps and the artificial sphincter, to prevent soft tissues from injures due to overloading. This paper studies the design method issues in constant force components using superelastic shape memory alloy. A generalized method for generating a constant force components-based shape memory alloy is proposed. An example of a C-shaped shape memory alloy sheet with a thickness of 0.2 mm is presented. The design results using the generalized design method for a C-shaped shape memory alloy sheet with 0.2 mm thickness are compared with its experimental results. Based on the generalized design method, the obtained design solutions for Cases 1 and 2 are coincident with the results obtained by the experiments. It could be seen that the generated design shape of the superelastic shape memory alloy component might obtain constant force within a relatively large deformation range. It is validated that the proposed generalized design method was feasible and effective. It is also illustrated that changing the geometric dimensions of the superelastic SMA component might obtain constant force within a relatively large deformation range.