Recipient Organization
TUFTS UNIVERSITY
200 WESTBORO ROAD
N. GRAFTON,MA 01536
Performing Department
Environmental & Population Health
Non Technical Summary
When cows calve, they are at risk for several diseases including displaced abomasums (DA's) in which their abomasum (their "fourth stomach") moves from its normal location on the bottom of the abdomen to the upper left side of their abdomen. Unless corrected, DA's are fatal to cattle. Typically, DA corrections aredone by open surgery or by toggling. Toggling is performed by placing a fixation device through the skin of the cow into the abomasum after the abomasum has been returned to its correct location by rolling the cow onto her back. Surgery is expensive and requires a high level of expertise. Toggling is less expensive than surgery but does not allow for visualizaton of the abomasum before the toggle is inserted into the abdomen of the cow. Since the abomasum is not visualized prior to toggle placement, use of toggles can lead to penetration of organs other than the abomasum which can be fatal to cattle.This project would lead to the development of a tool that would allow for correction of DA's by a method which would be less expensive and require less expertise than surgery while at the same time allowing for visualization of the DA before insertion of a toggle. The tool would be a spring loaded device which would allow for one-handed placement of toggles into the abomasum of cows affected with DA's. Since the device could be used with one hand, the other hand couldbe used to operate an ultrasound which wouldbe used to confirm abomasum location prior to insertion of the toggle. By visualizing the abomasum ultrasonically priorto toggle placement, the risk of penetrating an organ other than the abomasum would be greatly reduced as can occur with the toggle device currently in use.This project would consist of two phases. In the first phase, a device and toggles would be developed to allow for one-handed correction of DA's. In the second phase, the prototypes developed would be used in cadaver cows to ensure reliable penetration into the abdomen ofcattle. If the tool were successful, a patent would be sought for the tool and the tool would be marketed to farmers and veterinarians as an alternate means of correcting DA's.
Animal Health Component
(N/A)
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
(N/A)
Developmental
100%
Goals / Objectives
The most common surgical intervention performed on dairy cattle is fixation of a displaced abomasum (DA). With over 9,000,000 dairy cattle in the Unites States and an estimated disease incidence of 3%, up to 270,000 dairy cows are affected with DA's each year in the United States. Currently, there are two methods commonly used for fixation of DA's: laparotomy with fixation of the DA or percutaneous (Surgical fixation), blind fixation of the DA using the Grymer-Sterner technique (toggling). Surgical fixation of DA's requires expertise and a large investment in equipment and consumable materials. Toggling requires less technical expertise and a lower investment in equipment but risks failure as the abomasum is not visualized at the time of fixation leading to the potential to miss the abomasum or insert the toggle into an organ other than the abomasum. The goal of this project would be to develop a device which corrects DA's using a different approach.The proposed device, the toggle gun, bypasses the limitations of both performing a laparotomy, namely cost and expertise, and using the Grymer-Sterner technique, namely uncertainty about accurate placement of the toggle. The toggle gun would require less expertise and cost than performing surgery while allowing precise placement of toggles which is not currently possible with the Grymer-Sterner technique. The chief advantage of the toggle gun is that it allows one-handed placement of toggles while the Grymer-Sterner Technique requires two hands. One-handed insertion of toggles will give the operator the opportunity to use the other hand to ensure proper placement of the toggle using an inexpensive, portable ultrasound that are routinely used in dairy practice. The project will consist of two parts: (1) engineering an instrument for toggle insertion, the toggle gun, and a novel design for the toggle itself which will allow for one-handed insertion along with simultaneous ultrasonic imaging for confirmation of proper insertion; and (2) test the implementation of the one-handed device toggle system in bovine cadavers.
Project Methods
The study to show proof of concept will be run in two phases. Phase one will involve the completion of engineering and production of the final insertion device (toggle gun). Completion of engineering will include final testing of the toggles and testing of the final toggle gun on cow cadaver(s). Phase two will be a short production run of:four toggle guns and100 toggles. The aims of this study are to show that the toggle can be effectively delivered to the abomasum and the toggle gun approach is superior than the Grymer-Sterner method.