Recurring Meeting of Cleveland Clinic Core Team

Date: January 28, 2014

Time: 10:30 AM EST

Means: In person meeting

Attendees:

1. Ahmet Erdemir
2. Jason Halloran
3. Craig Bennetts
4. Robb Colbrunn
5. Tara Bonner
6. Dylan Beckler

Agenda:

1. Discuss immediate action items from the last meeting.
2. Discuss progress of all other tasks.
3. Decide immediate action items for the next meeting.
4. Other.

Immediate Action Items:

• Jason
  • Continue commenting on specimen preparation wiki page.
  • Compile latest responses from Tekscan, Inc. to provide a detailed quote of individual components.
• Tara
  • Continue addressing comments on specimen preparation wiki page.
  • Provide links and/or information for specimen storage in imaging specifications page.

• Robb & Dylan

  • Devise a solution for heated saline bath for tissue testing.

• Craig & Jason

  • Complete imaging specifications page including addition of photo for transportation device, OAI style reporting fields, contact information MRI technician, modality for transfering images.
  • Provide details of second imaging trial session including settings of the MESE protocol and the updated DESS protocol.

• Robb & Jason

  • Evaluate current infrastructure for pressure measurements hands on.
  • Design a mini-experiment for appropriate equilibriation and calibration of pressure sensors.

Notes:

1. Discuss immediate action items from the last meeting.
   • Tara will provide a link to the study (a WCB 2014 abstract submission) justifying the choice to test the specimens in an intact or cleaned state. We will test the knee in an “intact” state.
   • Tara and Jason started editing the sample preparation page. Conflicts will be resolved and additional questions and edits will be added. Immediate action items were added for Jason and Tara to finish editing this page.
   • Robb discussed the infrastructure information for experimentation mechanics. Biomomentum specifications were added along with brief descriptions of the sample grips. “Sample Thickness Measurement System” specs will be added and clarified before May. Note that determings these specifications will require a testing session. The “sample environment” capabilities/specs will also be clarified along with a potential solution for the current testing needs. This will likely be accomplished by Dylan.
     • Robb and Tara should check this page frequently to maintain progress.
     • An aside from Ahmet, Biomomentum received the P.O. and they have already started building the machine. It should be ready in approximately 8 weeks.
   • Craig updated the imaging specifications along with the infrastructure. Regarding the specifications, contact info for the imaging technician needs to be added, pictures of the transport container need to be added, and the final specifications need to be determined. OAI style reporting fields will be used to describe the imaging specifications for completeness and consistency. Transfer of data (MRIs) from the imaging center also needs to be decided (likely a hard drive or a thumb drive).
     • After the test session tomorrow, the new images should be reviewed before the meeting next week (by Craig and Jason).
     • Regarding the imaging facilities at Case, Craig added information to the infrastructure page. Contact info will be added. Other than that, the page appears near to completion
   • Jason has not finished editing the joint testing specifications page, this will be added to next week's immediate action items.
   • The imaging test session was scheduled. We will also include the candidate materials for the mounting plugs (for the optotrak and the registration phantoms) in the test session.
   • The group started but hasn't finished editing the specimen preparation page.
   • Pressure measurement equilibration and calibration was discussed. Prices and specs were acquired from Tekscan. Robb and Jason had a discussion with one of the engineers at Tekscan. Potential solutions for equilibration and calibration were discussed and we may be able to use the current foot testing apparatus.
     • As a first test, we may try to equilibrate with the foot testing bladder (max psi is around 87), then calibrate with a known stiffness foam (that mimics cartilage stiffness at higher load). After calibration, multiple locations on the sensor will be tested for consistency (approximate pressures of 100 psi up to 500 or 600 psi. This loading range should be accomplished with a force value, as in the calibration). Robb and Jason will design a mini experiment to test the approach to equilibration/calibration. Robb and Jason will also evaluate the current infrastructure and obtain final pricing for desired software/hardware needs from Tekscan.
   • Previous meeting notes were discussed.
     • A P.O. for young specimens was obtained by Tara.
     • A new intern who will help out with marketing material and phantom design may start depending on the funding/arrangement with the Orthopaedics deparment.
     • Ahmet gave an update on last week's meeting with the Utah group. They are working on the in situ strain problem and have made great headway on defining element, node and surface sets.
2. Discuss progress of all other tasks.
   • Craig developed an initial framework for “membrane” meshing of ligaments. Essentially, from MR images, a set of curves can be defined for each ligament. The curves define a surface for the ligament, which is defined as 4 sided. Springs will be embedded along the collagen direction and the “offset” (slack length) can be controlled for these springs.
   • Ahmet will continue working on the Open Knee gen 1 manuscript.
   • Dylan presented a mini study on Optotrak calibration. It appears a larger probe, with multiple marker sets (4 total, with three IREDs on each), provides more accuracy. The “incline”of the probe in the field of view of the camera also affected accuracy. Error values were the best yet and a rigid probe with 4 marker sets is being designed for future tests.
   • Knee testing dates were discussed. The weeks of Feb 24 and March 3 are the current candidates. The current bottlenecks are pressure measurements, imaging specifications, and specimen preparation.
3. Decide immediate action items for the next meeting.
   • Everyone agreed to their immediate action items.
4. Other.
   • No other topics were discussed