Common orthopedic procedures require the accurate positioning of a thin metallic wire to guide the positioning of a fixating screw. However, the surgical procedure is often hampered by deflection, which then requires repair while complicating and prolonging the recovery of patients. To address this challenge, Prof. Meir Liebergall, head of the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at Hadassah Medical Center, partnered with a multidisciplinary team from The Hebrew University’s BioDesign: Medical Innovation program.

The team developed BendGuide, an opto-electronic drilling system that monitors and detects minute changes in guide-wire trajectory during surgery. It allows surgeons to correct drilling trajectories during the procedure itself. It uses a fiber bundle with a reflecting laser beam that enables detection of small deflections in wire trajectory. At a fully-aligned state, the beam power hits the center of the detector array. When deflected, mirror misalignment causes the power to spread differentially across the fiber bundle.

Bio Design Team

Medical Innovation is a multi-disciplinary team created by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and its affiliated Hadassah Medical Center. Sponsored by Boston Scientific and the Terumo Medical Corporation, the program takes outstanding medical fellows, bioengineering and business graduate students, and tutors them in the science and practice of bringing a medical innovation to the market. 

Commercial Transition 

The innovations produced by the Biodesign program participants are commercialized by Yissum, the technology transfer company of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Hadasit, the technology transfer company of the Hadassah Medical Center.