In orthopedic oncology, surgeons often face a difficult trade-off: remove a bone tumor completely or preserve the bone’s structural integrity. Current tools, like fixed-angle curettes, make it difficult to fully extract tumors without enlarging the surgical window. Often, however, making the surgical window bigger increases the risk of fractures and long-term bone instability or damage. It’s a common clinical dilemma with few solutions – until now.
Texas A&M University School of Engineering Medicine student Caroline Miller is taking a mechanical approach to improving cancer surgery outcomes with her project, “Minimalizing Tissue Damage During Tumor Resection with Digit Integrated Tumor Curette.”
Miller’s Finger Curette was designed to minimize damage to surrounding bone and tissue during tumor removal by allowing surgeons to access hard-to-reach areas through smaller incisions. Traditional fixed-angle curettes are rigid and can limit maneuverability, often requiring surgeons to enlarge the surgical window to fully remove the tumor. By improving reach and flexibility, Miller’s device may help reduce the likelihood of recurrence while preserving more of the patient’s healthy bone.
The impact of her work could reshape how orthopedic oncologists approach tumor resection and improve patient outcomes while reducing complications.
The project recently earned Miller an honorable mention at the National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Engineering Workshop, an event that primarily highlights cellular and molecular advances. Her recognition helped spotlight the value of hardware-based surgical tools and underscored the impact physicianeers can have at the intersection of engineering and clinical care.
“While the vast majority of the abstracts recognized were centered around cellular engineering and immunotherapies, the Finger Curette is a purely mechanical solution to be used during surgical excision of tumors to reduce the risk of recurrence,” Miller stated.
Her success didn’t happen in isolation. Much of the hands-on development took place at the EnMed Innovation Center (EIC). with access to tools like laser welders and guidance from lab manager Steven Bowles, Miller was able to refine her prototypes. Now, she’s continuing the project through her second Innovation Immersion Experience in collaboration with both the Moreno Lab at Texas A&M and the IDEAS Lab at MD Anderson.
“EnMed has impacted this project from the very start. A previous team of students developed the first prototype, then handed it off to me as an extracurricular project and encouraged me to exercise full creative freedom,” Miller shared.
Inspired by clinical innovators like Dr. Justin Bird, Miller envisions a career that blends surgery with innovation at every stage. Her long-term goal is to design and develop surgical tools that improve patient outcomes while remaining deeply connected to the operating room. As a physicianeer, she aspires to be a driving force in the future of surgical innovation, thus balancing hands-on patient care, engineering breakthroughs, and collaborative research to push the boundaries of what is possible in medicine.
