Working from a machine shop in his Boonville garage, MU graduate Ferris Pfeiffer, pictured here, uses a computer to help spinal patients achieve better surgical outcomes.
Up to 20 percent of patients who undergo surgery for back pain do not find relief, Pfeiffer says. That’s partially because diagnostic tools such as CT scans can’t predict whether a surgery will succeed. But Pfeiffer’s technology creates virtual bodies to help doctors test medical devices, such as replacement discs.
“The human body is really just a machine,” says Pfeiffer, who did doctoral students in mechanical engneering at the University of Missouri. Pfeiffer has partnered with Dr. Dennis Abernathie of the Columbia Orthopaedic Group to evaluate options for spinal surgeries with computer techniques he developed as a Ph.D. student.
Pfeiffer converts CT scans into three-dimensional models. Then he transports the models into a computer program that allows him to mimic a patient’s body weight and movements to see if the surgical devices will hold up. Pfeiffer can test several options to help doctors choose the best one.
In addition to his work with Abernathie, Pfeiffer collaborates with James “Jimi” Cook, director of MU’s Comparative Orthopaedic Laboratory, and William Carson, professor emeritus of mechanical engineering, to test the strength of actual prototypes. Such tests involve attaching a prototype to bone and using a machine to load it to failure.
Reviewed 2013-02-18