Innovation, originality, commercial relevance and excellence are some of the adjectives that the HP Invent Competition Commission used to describe John Geary's research project.
Geary is an honours mechanical engineering graduate at the Cork Institute of Technology (CIT). Earlier this year he won the HP Invent Competition with the development of methods to analyse, test and optimise the design of a prototype blood clot filter. The HP Invent Competition is open to all final-year undergraduate students in science, information technology and engineering.
"There is a condition called pulmonary embolism - that is, when a blood clot in your vena cava stops the blood going into your lungs. It is a very serious condition that can cause death," says Geary. "What the blood clot filter does is it filters the blood and captures the blood clots."
The filter consists of a six-legged titanium structure that is inserted into the vena cava, the blood vessel connecting the heart to the lungs, using minimally invasive surgical techniques. Once in position it captures any travelling blood clots, in the process preventing a pulmonary embolism.
Geary's project involved finding a way to optimise the formation of the hooks that hold a new prototype filter in place. The new design concentrates on reducing the overall dimensions of the filter hooks as a way to reduce the size of the cartridge used to insert the filter into position. Success in this was designed to reduce patient stress during insertion.
"These types of devices have been around for 20 years - it is a well-established product and it is still growing," says Geary. "What I attempted to do is try to make it more patient-friendly and more friendly for the doctors that use it. My area was concentrated on the forming techniques and the manufacturing techniques, and we also had to deal with manipulating the structure of the material, so we were able to make a smaller product, making it easier to implant it in the patient."
The recommendations and the design optimisation that Geary developed in his prototype blood clot filter have been brought forward to further research.
"There is some ongoing research," says CIT senior lecturer Sean O'Leary. "John's project is running extremely well. It has been extremely beneficial in human applications."
Others think so too. Geary's project has been shortlisted from a large international entry to just three finalists in the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Best Medical Engineering Degree Project Competition. The event takes place on June 30th in Birdcage Walk, London.