Artificial organs and rehabilitation

lgbio2114  2024-2025  Louvain-la-Neuve

Artificial organs and rehabilitation
5.00 credits
30.0 h + 30.0 h
Q2
> Schedule
Teacher(s)
Beauloye Christophe; Delhaye Benoit; Lefèvre Philippe; Ronsse Renaud (compensates Lefèvre Philippe);
Language
English
> French-friendly
Prerequisites
LGBIO1112, LGBIO1113
Main themes
This course aims at introducing existing artificial organs, prostheses, and rehabilitation systems, focusing on their goals, working principles, and limitations. It further stimulates the student's innovation skills through the deep understanding of the global problem of interfacing a human with such a device.
Learning outcomes

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :

1 Regarding the learning outcomes of the program of "Master in Biomedical Engineering", this course contributes to the development and the acquisition of the following learning outcomes:
    AA1.1, AA1.2, AA1.3,       AA2.1, AA2.4, AA2.5
    AA3.1, AA3.2, AA3.3,       AA4.2, AA4.3, AA4.4
    AA5.2, AA5.3, AA5.5, AA5.6      AA6.1, AA6.3
More precisely, at the end of this course, students will be able to:
a.     Disciplinary Learning Outcomes
1. Physiopathology of organs:
  • Explain the role of an organ in sustaining the biological functions of the whole body, and its functional principle, both in normal and pathological conditions.
  • Describe and understand the working principle of basic physiological functions (vision, audition, locomotion, movements, etc.).
  • Understand the consequences of the malfunctioning of an organ or a physiological function, and thus the ultimate objective of the artificial organ or prosthesis.
  • Describe the expected functionalities of an artificial organ - partial or complete  - and prosthesis.
2. Techniques being currently available:
  • Understand and describe the physical, chemical, or biological principles involved in the context of a particular artificial organ or prosthesis.
  • Describe the functional modalities of several artificial organs and prostheses, their potential modes of failure, and the safety mechanisms to prevent or fix them with minimal invasiveness for the patient.
  • Master the basic knowledge about haemocompatibility and the consequences for the optimal functioning of an artificial organ.
3. Perspectives to future developments:
  • Perceive the research and development trends for the future years.
  • Imagine improvements or new concepts based on the existing solutions.
b) Transversal Learning Outcomes
  • Take part to a multidisciplinary team in charge of the development, maintenance, and improvement of artificial organs and prostheses.
  • Discuss a new topic and concept in front of an audience.
  • Perform a critical analysis of a scientific article.
  • Propose original solutions to an existing problem.
  • Realize the preliminary dimensioning of an active prosthesis or a rehabilitation device for movement assistance (problem-based learning, PBL) in a group with other students.
 
Content
This course is an introduction to the medical treatments that resort to the substitution of artificial systems to failing organs, limbs, or physiological systems. For each application, the course will approach the basic anatomy and physiology notions of organs to be replaced, as well as an overview of failure reasons (pathology). Afterwards, the course will present the artificial organs (composition, functioning mode, organism adaptation) along with the therapeutic effects and the limitations to such substitution (side effects and complications).
The different applications are grouped according to 3 major themes which are: vital organ substitution (blood flow, cardiac pump, lung, kidney, etc.), passive and active implants, and rehabilitation and assistive robots.
Moreover, the course will examine machine organs in medical applications (pumps, actuators, transmission and tightness organs, micro-mechanisms, etc.).
The part covering active implants will mainly overview the prostheses and external sensorial devices. The cardiac pacemaker and defibrillators will be exhaustively studied. The course will also introduce sensorial pathologies, cochlear implants and visual prosthesis. Drug pumps and drug delivery systems will be covered in this section.
The third part, dealing with rehab and assistive robotics, will cover the most recent developments of robotic solutions to rehabilitation, assistance, or replacement (through prostheses) of the upper- and lower-limb. The main mechanisms governing motor control will be explored in parallel.
Teaching methods
The course consists of 26 hours of theoretical lectures, containing examples of the covered concepts.
The package of practical contributions consists of a critical presentation of a scientific paper; the visit of medical (or medico-technical) services where artificial organs are being used; excercise sessions ; and a lab project with a haptic device (Hapkit), in a group of students.
Evaluation methods
Students will be individually evaluated by means of a written examination that will evaluate the capacity to reproduce some reasoning covered in the lectures, as well as their global understanding, by means of a series of short questions.
Evaluation of the practical contributions
  • The lab project will be marked and accounted for in the final evaluation.
  • The article reading will be marked and integrated in the final evaluation.
Continuous assessment comprises a number of assignments, which will result together in a single overall mark, communicated after the correction of all assignments. Failure to comply with the methodological guidelines set out on Moodle, particularly with regard to the use of online resources or collaboration between students, for any part of the project, will result in an overall mark of 0 for the continuous assessment. The use of generative AI software such as chatGPT is authorized for assistance in writing the documents requested as part of this project. However, it must be clearly and completely indicated in the document(s) concerned.
Other information
/
Online resources
Moodle : http://moodle.uclouvain.be/course/view.php?id=8998
Teaching materials
  • Les transparents présentés lors des exposés théoriques et les illustrations, de même que l'ensemble des articles à présenter sont disponibles sur Moodle.
Faculty or entity
> GBIO


Programmes / formations proposant cette unité d'enseignement (UE)

Title of the programme
Sigle
Credits
Prerequisites
Learning outcomes
Master [120] in Chemical and Materials Engineering
KIMA2M
5
Master [120] in Biomedical Engineering
GBIO2M
5
Master [120] in Chemistry and Bioindustries
BIRC2M
5