TissueDB/Materials/Starch
Starch is a fine, dry vegetable powder milled from plants and sold cheaply as a food-grade cooking ingredient. The form documented in TissueDB is maize starch (also sold as cornstarch or corn starch). Starch is not a tissue simulant on its own: in both documented builds it is a dry additive that changes another material — blended into castable silicone to make a moldable, air-drying suture pad, and suspended in saline to make simulated blood more opaque.
Tissues
| Tissue | Visual | Tactile | Simulator | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skin | Partial | Partial | Suture Simulator (Almeida) | Maize starch (cornstarch) blended into acetic (acetoxy) silicone (20 g silicone : 11 g starch) to make a moldable, air-drying suture pad; provides a suturable surface but does not reproduce the different layers of skin tissue, which the authors classify as low fidelity. The paper costs the starch at R$ 3.90 for a 200 g pack (Brazil, 2023), of which 11 g goes into one model.[1] |
| Blood | Massive Hemoptysis Simulator (New) | Corn starch — one tablespoon suspended in a 1 L bag of normal saline or water tinted with food colouring, to increase the opacity of the simulated blood; the bag is agitated periodically during use to keep the starch in suspension. The authors record that the fluid stayed less viscous than real blood and did not clot.[2] |
References
[edit source]- ↑ Almeida NRC, Braga JP, Bentes LGB, Lemos RS, Fernandes MRN, Andrade GL, Araujo VMM, Santos DRD, Yasojima EY. Low-cost suture simulator to gain basic surgical skills. Acta Cir Bras 2023;38:e384223. DOI: 10.1590/acb384223. PMID: 37851786.
- ↑ New ML, Amass T, Neumeier A, Jacobson NM, Huie TJ. Creation and validation of a massive hemoptysis simulator. Chest 2024;165(3):636-644. DOI: 10.1016/j.chest.2023.10.014. PMID: 37852436.
Overview
[edit source]Maize starch is a fine white powder sold cheaply as a cooking ingredient worldwide, from ordinary food retailers and with no specialist supplier needed. It has two documented roles in simulation, in both cases as an additive rather than a simulant in its own right: blended dry into acetic (acetoxy) silicone to make a suturable pad, and suspended in saline with food colouring to raise the opacity of simulated blood. Both recipes, with quantities and costs, are in the tissue table below.
Synonyms
[edit source]Common names: starch, maize starch, cornstarch, corn starch
Regional terms: Amido de milho (Portuguese)
Clinical Context for Simulation
[edit source]Processing & Preparation
[edit source]Safety Considerations
[edit source]Related Materials
[edit source]- Silicone, Castable — the castable elastomer maize starch is blended with in the documented suture-pad recipe
- Normal Saline — the carrier fluid corn starch is suspended in for simulated blood
- Ink or Dye — the food colouring used alongside corn starch in the same simulated-blood recipe
| Authors | Arturopelayo |
|---|---|
| License | CC-BY-SA-4.0 |
| Cite as | Arturopelayo (2026). "TissueDB/Materials/Starch". Appropedia. Retrieved July 23, 2026. |