Week 4: Let the Trials Begin…
Hello Everyone and welcome to week 4 of my research on KnoxFog – the anti-fog solution that will revolutionize closed-cavity surgeries! This last week has been eventful, I have continued my work on analyzing the data we have from our tests and am currently working on publishing the teams findings to a conference for publication – very excited!!
Before we dive deep into this weeks goals, I wanted to do a quick knowledge check to make sure we are not confused on any of the key points… I want to continue this format for future weeks as well so let me know if you like this plan!
WEEK 4 QUIZ:
1. What problem does KnoxFog™ aim to solve?
- A. Improving color rendition on endoscopes
B. Preventing surgical lens fogging during procedures
C. Increasing battery life of endoscopic cameras
D. Reducing static buildup on endoscope cables
2. Which statement best describes a hyper-hydrophilic coating?
- A. It repels water so that droplets bounce off immediately.
B. It dissolves in water to create a cleaning solution.
C. It spreads water into a continuous, flat film while also absorbing excess moisture.
D. It forms large water droplets that roll off easily.
3. Why might semi-solid KnoxFog™ be superior to a purely liquid anti-fog solution?
- A. It doesn’t require any sterilization.
B. It offers quicker drying and easier application, avoiding lengthy surgical delays.
C. It can be colored bright red to improve lens visibility.
D. It permanently alters the endoscope lens surface.
4. Which of the following is a known drawback of heated lenses for fog prevention?
- A. They never heat up enough to stop fogging.
B. They require re-heating every 5 – 20 minutes, disrupting the procedure.
C. They permanently damage the lens optics.
D. They are only effective at very low temperatures.
5. In controlled experiments, what method helped ensure reproducibility when testing endoscopes with different coatings?
- A. Asking surgeons to estimate the time-to-fog by visual guesswork
B. Using cold packs to prevent endoscope overheating and placing identical endoscopes in a heated, humid environment
C. Recording a single endoscope in different temperature baths without tracking humidity
D. Testing only one endoscope at a time without calibration targets
Okay, feel free to comment your answers in the chat and if there are any confusions I will make sure to clarify them as well!
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This week we will focus on the experimentation and results of the KnoxFog solution to previous version of the solution, VitreOx.
General Experimental Setup
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Equipment and Environment
- A 7-inch Pyrex dish filled with sterile water, heated to approximately 38 °C (to mimic body temperature).
- A polypropylene “plenum” (cover) on top of the dish, drilled with holes so that endoscopes can be symmetrically inserted.
- Four endoscopes are used in each experiment (two coated, two uncoated).
- Checkerboard optical targets are placed at the bottom of the dish to help monitor clarity (or fogging) on each endoscope’s camera feed.
- Multiple temperature probes ensure that the environment around each scope is consistently near 38 °C.
- Endoscopes are each connected to a laptop that continuously records images, making it easy to track when fogging starts.
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What Is Measured?
- Time-to-Fog (minutes or seconds): Once the endoscopes are placed in the heated, humid environment, the clock starts. When the lens can no longer clearly visualize the checkerboard target, that marks its “time-to-fog.”
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Why Two Coated vs. Two Uncoated Scopes?
- Using pairs of identical scopes for each condition (coated vs. uncoated) helps ensure reproducibility.
- If there are slight differences in scope position or temperature, having two scopes in each group helps average out those effects.
Experiment #1: VitreOx™ vs. Uncoated
- Date: February 7, 2023
- Aim: Compare VitreOx™ (the predicate anti-fog solution) to no coating (control).
- Method:
- Two endoscopes are coated with VitreOx™.
- Two identical endoscopes remain uncoated.
- All four are inserted simultaneously into the 38 °C environment.
- Results:
- VitreOx™-Coated Lenses: Remained fog-free for about 62 minutes.
- Uncoated Lenses: Fogged almost immediately (0 minutes in this run).
- Conclusion: VitreOx™ significantly prolongs clarity compared to uncoated scopes. This establishes VitreOx™ as a reliable baseline (predicate).
Experiment #2: KnoxFog™ vs. Uncoated
- Date: February 16, 2023
- Aim: Compare KnoxFog™ (subject device) to no coating (control).
- Method:
- Two endoscopes are coated with KnoxFog™ in a liquid form (similar to how VitreOx™ is normally applied).
- Two identical endoscopes remain uncoated.
- All four go into the same heated setup.
- Results:
- KnoxFog™-Coated Lenses: Fog-free for approximately 68 – 75 minutes (average ~72 minutes).
- Uncoated Lenses: Fogged in as little as 3 seconds in this particular run.
- Conclusion: KnoxFog™ performs on par with (and in some runs longer than) VitreOx™, confirming that it offers strong anti-fogging performance under the same liquid-application method.
Experiment #3: Reproducibility Check — KnoxFog™ vs. Uncoated (Again)
- Date: February 17, 2023
- Aim: Repeat Experiment #2 to confirm consistent results and eliminate any chance artifacts (e.g., differences in endoscope positions).
- Method:
- Two endoscopes are again coated with KnoxFog™ (liquid application).
- Two endoscopes are left uncoated.
- The lens positions are sometimes swapped compared to Experiment #2, ensuring no single scope’s location or hardware anomaly skews results.
- Results:
- KnoxFog™-Coated Lenses: Stayed fog-free for around 72 minutes.
- Uncoated Lenses: Fogged between 17 and 23 minutes this time (variation is common when no coating is used, as uncoated scopes can have erratic “time-to-fog”).
- Conclusion: The second trial confirms that KnoxFog™ reliably extends the fog-free window beyond one hour, reproducing the strong performance seen in Experiment #2.
Overall Conclusions From the 3 Experiments
- VitreOx™ vs. No Coating: Proves that super-hydrophilic coatings work well – about 1 hour of clear viewing, compared to near-instant fogging.
- KnoxFog™ vs. No Coating: Demonstrates that KnoxFog™ also significantly outperforms uncoated lenses, achieving similar or better times-to-fog than VitreOx™ under the same liquid application method.
- Reproducibility: KnoxFog™ results were consistent across multiple runs, confirming reliability.
Additional “Performance” Note (Beyond the 3 Main Experiments)
Later tests (sometimes referred to as Experiment #4) explored applying KnoxFog™ as a semi-solid gel using an immersion technique. In those runs, KnoxFog™ remained fog-free for over two hours, improving on both the liquid KnoxFog™ results and VitreOx™. This shows how changes in application method (e.g., from a dropper to a semi-solid immersion) can further extend the anti-fog performance.
Key Takeaways
- KnoxFog™ and VitreOx™ both outperform uncoated endoscopes by a large margin.
- In liquid form, KnoxFog™ provides comparable (or slightly longer) fog-free times than VitreOx™ (~70+ minutes vs. ~60+ minutes).
- When applied as a semi-solid gel (not tested in Experiments #1 – 3, but confirmed in follow-up tests), KnoxFog™ can more than double the fog-free duration, exceeding 2 hours.
This streamlined summary reflects the core findings of Experiments #1, #2, and #3. They collectively show KnoxFog™ equaling or surpassing VitreOx™’s anti-fog capabilities in a reproducible test environment.
Overall, we see that the anti-fog solution is a MAJOR SUCCESS. In thge next week we will go over the applications of the product now that we know that it works , what the doctors we sent our product out to had to say, and how the solution tested in a clinical animal test.
Stay tuned for next week!
Shreyash
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