Tasmin Boam Department of Materials REFERENCES 1. Pelvic organ prolapse: You're not alone. [online]. Harvard Health Publishing, 2015. [14/08/2019]. Available from:https://www.health.harvard.edu/womens-health/pelvic- organ-prolapse-youre-not-alone. 2. JELOVSEK, J.E. and MAHER, C. and BARBER, M.D., ‘Pelvic organ prolapse’, The Lancet, 2007, 369(9566), pp. 1027-1038. 3. Treatment: Pelvic Organ Prolapse. [online]. NHS, 2019. [10/08/2019]. Available from: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pelvic-organ-prolapse/treatment/. 4. Urogynecologic Surgical Mesh: Update on the Safety and Effectiveness of Transvaginal Placement for Pelvic Organ Prolapse. [online]. FDA Center for Devices and Radiological Health, 2011. [10/08/2019]. Available from: https://www.fda.gov/media/81123/download. 5. Vaginal Pessaries. [online]. Urogynaecological Society of Australasia. [07/08/2019]. Available from:https://www.ugsa.com.au/wp- content/uploads/2019/01/Vaginal-Pessary.pdf ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS With thanks to Dr Sara Ronca and Dr Elisa Mele for their advice and supervision, and to Michael Graysmark, Callum Crane and Dr Giuseppe Forte for their help in the laboratory. CONTACT INFORMATION Tasmin Boam Department of Materials Loughborough University Leicestershire LE11 3TU UK t.l.boam-15@student.lboro.ac.uk www.lboro.ac.uk/materials Design and fabrication of novel vaginal ring pessaries with improved performances Introduction to Project Pelvic organ prolapse (POP) is a severe gynaecological condition affecting around 50% of women over the age of 50 [1]. POP can occur due to weakening of the pelvic floor and vaginal tissue, leading to prolapse of the uterus, bladder or rectum. Pessaries are devices inserted into the vagina for treatment of POP by provision of mechanical support to the prolapsed organ. A variety of pessaries exist, with each being suited to a particular type and stage of prolapse, one of the most common is the ring pessary [2]. Pessaries provide an alternative treatment to vaginal mesh, which has now been banned [3] following its link to multiple deaths [4]. Scenario: A GP has reported patients complaining of discomfort during insertion and removal with currently used pPVC ring pessaries. As well as the material being too rigid, there is also the risk of toxic plasticiser being released into the body. Project Aim: Initial exploration of possible design and material solutions to produce a more comfortable pessary for the patient. Sample Development Alternative to pPVC: Silicone rubber pessary Problem: Insufficient mechanical properties to withstand the prolapse Potential solution: Reinforcement of silicone with a 3D printed PLA scaffold. A helical design (A), seen in Figure 1, along with 2 simple ring designs (B,C) were chosen. To improve the bonding between the silicone and PLA, holes were included in the ring designs to increase surface area. On one of the rings (C) the holes were made larger in the regions that would be highly compressed (Figure 2) to assess their effect on mechanical properties. Bigger holes Figure 3: Images showing progressive compression of sample A. Scan QR for video. Figure 2: An image of the PLA ring (C) scaffold showing sections with larger holes. Figure 1: An image showing the PLA helix (A) scaffold after 3D printing. A B Testing Compression testing (Figure 3) was completed to simulate the conditions of insertion and removal to help evaluate the most suitable design. Current practice requires immersion of the pPVC ring in warm water prior to insertion, making the material more pliable. Therefore, compression testing was carried out following immersion in warm water (53 ºC). Samples were also tested in ambient conditions to assess the effect of the increased temperature on compression performance. Results are shown in Figure 4. The silicone samples were compressed to failure, a force >500 N was required to induce failure at room temperature. Future Work Further work is required in both design (Figure 5) and material choices, a