Hamilton Health Sciences doctor helps to invent surgical simulator for childbirth emergencies

A Hamilton Health Sciences gynecological surgeon has helped to develop a surgical simulator for practising emergency surgeries to assist in preventing life-threatening bleeding after childbirth.

Dr. Esther Chin, who is also a member of McMaster University’s department of obstetrics and gynecology, led the creation of a surgical simulator called STITCH (Surgical Trainer for Interventions to Control Postpartum Hemorrhage) for health-care providers who deliver babies.

Chin first developed STITCH with five students from the University of British Columbia’s Master of Biomedical Engineering program.

Its base is modelled on an MRI of a female pelvis, making it a realistic training tool to get hands-on practise. It is designed to be portable, reusable and affordable.

Serious bleeding after a birth — known as postpartum hemorrhage — affects 14 million women per year and is the leading cause of maternal death worldwide, with an estimated 70,000 deaths annually.

Chin, whose grandmother was an obstetrician in Myanmar, was compelled to work in the field following time spent at a remote hospital in Rwanda where she saw women — and babies — suffer and die due to childbirth complications.

She plans to move STITCH’s manufacturing from Vancouver to sub-Saharan Africa to better support the local industry and women in need.

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