A 14-year-old from Jacksonville, Fla., developed a suturing technique that could make it easier, particularly for less experienced surgeons, to sew up hysterectomy patients.

Tony Hansberry, a ninth-grader at Darnell-Cookman Middle/High School of the Medical Arts, was interning at the University of Florida's Center for Simulation Education and Safety Research when he came up with the idea. A professor had inquired as to why students practicing on dummies weren’t using the Endo Stitch device to sew up the tube left after the uterus is removed. Tony, working with the center’s administrative director, discovered that using the Endo Stitch to suture vertically instead of horizontally made it easier to use the device.

The method allowed Tony to stitch up the tube 3 times faster with the Endo Stitch than he was able to with a conventional needle driver. University of Florida OB/GYN professor Brent Seibel, MD, says the technique may be able to cut surgical times for experienced surgeons and make the procedure easier for surgeons who don’t regularly do hysterectomies.

The teen researcher presented his suturing technique last week to a group of physicians gathered for the university’s education week.

—Irene Tsikitas