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The interconnection between medicine and machine has flourished rapidly in recent years. At its core, engineering is practical problem solving, and there are many unsolved practical problems in the biomedical world. An increasing number of innovative engineering ideas have come to fruition recently in biomedical fields due to rapid gains in analysis and production methods, including this SDM internal project.

SDM’s quest to develop a better cutting system for the sternum bone is an outcome of increased efforts to put innovative ideas pertaining to open cardiac surgery into practice. An alternative and more stable cutting procedure for this bone was proposed, as it had the potential of reducing healing time and the number of post-operation complications. To make this idea a reality, SDM’s design team invented a tracking mechanism on which conventional sternum cutters can be mounted without difficulty. The tracking mechanism’s pathway can be designed to follow any shape parallel to the desired cutting path on the sternum bone. Although the physical model has been designed specifically for the sternum bone, the idea has the flexibility to be adapted to different parts of the human body, and to the bodies of many other creatures.

SDM R&D has an overwhelming interest in engineering solutions for the biomedical world and is always looking for innovative ideas to turn into real-world devices. This particular idea turned into an 18 month project that was organized for and supported by the TUBITAK 1507 program. Our cutting mechanism was tested on 30 sheep and the results were examined by a histopathology study. The results were rewarding – and they have been approved by TUBITAK. They show that the cutting mechanism is a promising device that will alleviate some of the difficulty of open cardiac surgery, as it can minimize post-operation complications and reduce healing time.