BME.05 – Semi-Automated Portable Slicing Device for fresh Prostate Specimens

• Sem Belay
• Anazaret Rodriguez
• Jesvin Sebastian
• Una Tinley
• Kai Yang

On average 90,000 radical prostatectomies are performed annually in the US to remove cancer within the prostate. To ensure that no cancer is left behind the prostate is set through a series of histological procedures. To process a specimen, the pathologist must slice the prostate transversely from apex to base. However, pathologists may struggle to obtain uniform slices of the desired thickness during this time sensitive procedure. Obtaining uniform 2.5 mm thick slices can be difficult because the pliable nature of the prostate can lead to bulging and deformation from the pressure applied by the knife. The slicing of the entire prostate should take twenty minutes or less because the prostate is prone to autolysis. As a result, pathologists need a method that minimizes both the time it takes to process prostatectomy samples and the variation in thickness of the transverse slices. To do this, we created a semi-automated device that produces uniform slices and reduces the amount of time taken to slice. Our device uses two stepper motors to control the blade used to cut the prostate, and a backplate to mitigate the bulging which causes the variation in slice thickness. One motor controls the vertical movement of the blade by carrying the other motor and blade vertically using a lead screw. The second motor controls the horizontal movement of the blade using a slider crank mechanism. Verification testing includes measuring the time taken to slice raw chicken breasts of the approximate size of a prostate into slices as well as calculating the mean thickness of the slices and their margin of error. Recorded times less than 20 minutes and slices with a thickness of 2.5mm ± 0.5mm pass the test. Our device aims to ease the job of pathologists when working with prostatectomy samples.