Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 1
. Iron hand design by Ambroise Paré, c. 1550 (83).
Figure 2
. Mechanical heart valve manufactured by Edwards Lifesciences (84).
metal prostheses, beginning around 200
BCE
in Rome with an iron hand fabri-
cated for General Marcus Sergius (19). In the 1500s, the developing field of
clockmaking introduced springs and gears to prosthesis makers, and in the 1550s
surgeon/barber Ambroise Paré incorporated these innovations into jointed leg,
arm, and hand prostheses (61). Figure 1 is an illustration of the prosthetic hand
that Paré built.
The advent of anesthesia in the 1840s and antiseptic techniques in the 1860s
allowed surgeons to consider repair and replacement of internal organs, and sur-
geons began to attempt organ transplants into humans from other humans, ca-
davers, or animals. In the last century, new materials led to the creation of many
synthetic organ replacements: artificial knees, hips, and heart valves (Figure 2)
are now commonplace. Advances in mechatronics have given us much-publi-
