Texas A&M, through its unique Engineering Medicine (EnMed) partnership with Houston Methodist Hospital, stepped up to help the health care system keep up with the demand for medical supplies brought on by COVID-19.
A team led by Dr. Michael R. Moreno delivered hundreds of 3D-printed diffusers for metered-dose inhalers to the Houston hospital, responding to a critical shortage after the hospital was unable to find the diffusers from its normal suppliers.
“The spacer, or diffuser, that we created will allow the doctors to use metered-dose inhalers to treat diagnosed and suspected COVID-19 patients who are not yet in need of ventilator therapy, without using nebulizers that may aerosolize the virus,” Moreno said. “And this is important because if this early stage intervention is effective, then it is possible that these patients may recover before reaching that critical point where ventilator therapy is required.”
Although the concept utilized for the diffusers is not new, this is among the first times it has been locally 3D printed and delivered on this scale.
Moreno and his team made the stereolithography file for the 3D-printable design publicly available on the EnMed website at no cost.
“As an Aggie biomedical engineer and mechanical engineer working in this biomedical space, times like these are when we really want to rise to the challenge,” Moreno said.
Featured Researcher
Dr. Michael Moreno
- Associate Professor
- Director of Innovation for Engineering Medicine
- J. Mike Walker ‘66 Faculty Fellow I
- EnMed Faculty Fellow