Handheld-Level Electromechanical Cartilage Reshaping Device

We have developed a handheld-level multichannel electromechanical reshaping (EMR) cartilage device and evaluated the feasibility of providing a means of cartilage reshaping in a clinical outpatient setting. The effect of EMR on pig costal cartilage was evaluated in terms of shape change, tissue heat generation, and cell viability. The pig costal cartilage specimens (23 mm × 6.0 mm × 0.7 mm) were mechanically deformed to 90 degrees and fixed to a plastic jig and applied 5, 6, 7, and 8 V up to 8 minutes to find the optimal dosimetry for the our developed EMR device. The results reveal that bend angle increased with increasing voltage and application time. The maximum bend angle obtained was 70.5 ± 7.3 at 8 V, 5 minutes. The temperature of flat pig costal cartilage specimens were measured, while a constant electric voltage was applied to three pairs of electrodes that were inserted into the cartilages. The nonthermal feature of EMR was validated by a thermal infrared camera; that is, the maximum temperate of the flat cartilages is 20.3°C at 8 V. Cell viability assay showed no significant difference in cell damaged area from 3 to 7 minutes exposure with 7 V. In conclusion, the multichannel EMR device that was developed showed a good feasibility of cartilage shaping with minimal temperature change.