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An Engineered Subcutaneous Self-Injection Testbed to Assess the Impact of Fluid Viscosity, Syringe Type, and Needle Gauge

Year: 2023


Presenter Name: Sabrina Su

Description
Subcutaneous injection (SC) into the fatty issue between skin and muscle introduces medication to the body through a low-cost and convenient method. SC injections are often used for administering medications that are incompatible with oral delivery. Patients can self-administer these medications via a variety of injection devices - syringes being very common. For certain medications such as biologics, higher drug concentrations lead to higher viscosity medications. However especially for syringe-based products, sometimes patient strength capabilities are not considered, making it difficult for the patients to apply a steady force on the plunger throughout the injection and eventually complete the injection. The focus of this research is to establish a testing platform for evaluating the dynamic SC injection performance for different viscosity fluids by monitoring the force that patients apply to the syringe plunger throughout injection and the corresponding fluid flow profile. Two alternative testing systems (passive and active testbed) are assembled. A passive system with prefilled syringes of high and low viscosity simulates injection through different needle gauges. During the injection, the force applied by the patients to the syringe plunger is monitored. The active system simulates different fluid viscosities by using a hose clamp to alter the cross-sectional area of a tubing, thereby controlling fluidic resistance. The active system monitors syringe plunger force as well as a flow profile of syringe-based SC injection. From these SC injection testbeds, we will be able to understand the relationship between applied force and fluid viscosity. The proposed testbeds enhance our understanding of the relationship between fluid viscosity, applied force, syringe type, and effective injection with the results potentially influencing syringe design, needle gauge selection, and upper limits of medicine viscosity for SC injection.
University / Institution: University of Utah
Type: Oral
Format: In Person
SESSION B (10:45AM-12:15PM)
Area of Research: Engineering
Faculty Mentor: Jay (Jungkyu) Kim
Location: Union Building, PANORAMA EAST (11:45am)