A multi-degree-of-freedom fixed support device for a ureteroscope

Abstract

The present application relates to a kind of multi-degree-of-freedom fixed support device for ureter flexible mirror, belong to medical instrument technical field.The device includes adjusting support and support unit.Adjusting support is used to be fixed to operating bed and provide multi-degree-of-freedom pose adjustment.Support unit includes parallelogram support and the guiding clamping cylinder connected at its two ends.Core improvement is that: the inner wall of guiding clamping cylinder is equipped with sealed elastic thin liquid bag, bag is filled with viscous liquid, bag inner wall is equipped with long nose and short nose of internal cavity communication, form continuous fluid chamber, realize the adaptive, low damage distributed support and dynamic damping of mirror body.Viscous liquid is preferably electrorheological fluid, by control circuit adjustment electric field intensity, can realize the stepless switching from flexible damping to rigid lock of clamping state.The present application effectively solves the technical problems, such as the clamping stability and mirror protection of existing support device difficult to consider, unable to effectively inhibit micro-motion and feeding operation inconvenience.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention belongs to the field of medical device auxiliary equipment technology, specifically a multi-degree-of-freedom fixation and support device for flexible ureteroscope. Background Technology

[0002] This invention relates to the field of minimally invasive surgical instruments, and in particular to a multi-degree-of-freedom fixation and support device for fixing and supporting the flexible ureteroscope body during flexible ureteroscopy.

[0003] Flexible ureteroscopy is a mainstream minimally invasive surgical procedure for treating kidney stones and upper ureteral stones. In this procedure, the surgeon inserts a flexible ureteroscope, typically over 1 meter long and about 2-3 millimeters in diameter, through the patient's natural cavities (urethra, bladder, ureter) into the renal collecting system. Then, a laser fiber is guided through the flexible tip of the ureteroscope to the stone's location and break it into fragments. The success of the procedure heavily depends on the surgeon's ability to stably and precisely position and hold the tip of the ureteroscope within the target area.

[0004] However, maintaining the stability of the flexible endoscope tip during surgeries that can last an hour or even several hours is an extremely challenging task. This is mainly due to the following technical difficulties: First, there are stability issues caused by the inherent characteristics of the flexible endoscope itself. During the pushing process, the slender endoscope lacks effective support in its middle section, making it prone to drooping and bending due to its own weight. More importantly, as a flexible transmission rod, any minute disturbance from the proximal end (the surgeon's hand) or along the path will be transmitted and amplified to the distal operating end. These disturbances mainly include: (1) the patient's own physiological activities, such as respiratory movements, cardiovascular pulsation, and intestinal peristalsis; (2) the unavoidable physiological hand tremors experienced by the surgeon when holding the endoscope. These factors cause the endoscope and its distal lens to continuously produce micro- to millimeter-level micro-displacements (hereinafter referred to as "endoscope micro-movements"), resulting in shaky surgical field of view, severely affecting the precise aiming at the lithotripsy location, prolonging the operation time, and even potentially damaging the fragile renal pelvis mucosa due to laser deviation from the target, increasing the risk of perforation.

[0005] Second, existing support devices present an irreconcilable contradiction between "stable clamping" and "mirror protection." To address this issue, some auxiliary support solutions have been proposed in the prior art, but all have significant drawbacks: One type is the mechanical locking support arm. These devices typically use mechanical clamps, racks and pinions, or knobs to rigidly hold the ureteroscope. While they provide strong fixation, the clamping force is difficult to control precisely, easily causing indentations, abrasions, or even cutting damage to the expensive composite outer layer of the ureteroscope, posing a significant risk of damaging this precision instrument. Furthermore, their rigid clamping mechanism cannot effectively buffer and absorb the aforementioned high-frequency micro-movements, and when making fine adjustments to the ureteroscope's position, repeated, tedious "release-adjust-lock" operations are required, resulting in a strong sense of interruption and affecting the smoothness of the surgery.

[0006] Another type is a simple elastic support. For example, a silicone block with a V-shaped groove or an arc groove is set at the end of the support arm. This type of device provides clamping force through the elastic deformation of the material. Although it reduces damage to the endoscope to some extent, the clamping force it provides is limited and uncontrollable. It is not effective in resisting low-frequency, large-amplitude displacement of the endoscope caused by breathing, etc., and cannot provide sufficient stability required for surgery. The endoscope is still prone to slippage.

[0007] Third, current technology lacks effective assistance for precise endoscope feeding. During surgery, surgeons often need to advance the flexible endoscope precisely a certain distance into the body. Currently, this mainly relies on the surgeon directly holding the proximal end of the endoscope for pushing. Because the endoscope is slender and flexible, the pushing force is difficult to transmit precisely along the axis, easily causing the endoscope to bend in the middle, creating a "bending" effect. This results in the actual feeding amount at the end being disproportionate to the pushing distance by hand, leading to unclear operation feel and poor positioning accuracy. This process often requires the assistance of an assistant, which is inconvenient and further introduces instability.

[0008] In summary, existing ureteroscopic support devices either suffer from damage to the endoscope due to rigid clamping or lack of stability due to elastic support, failing to fundamentally solve the problem of endoscope micro-movement. Furthermore, they have significant shortcomings in assisting precise feeding, failing to meet the urgent clinical demands for high precision, high safety, and high operational efficiency. Therefore, there is an urgent need in this field for an innovative fixation support device that can simultaneously achieve: (1) providing stable and damage-free distributed support for the endoscope; (2) possessing dynamic adaptability to effectively suppress endoscope micro-movement caused by various disturbances; and (3) providing a novel, precise, and controllable endoscope feeding operation mode to comprehensively improve the quality and safety of ureteroscopic surgery. Summary of the Invention

[0009] The purpose of this invention is to provide a multi-degree-of-freedom fixation support device for flexible ureteroscopes. This invention effectively solves the technical problems of existing support devices, such as difficulty in balancing clamping stability and endoscope protection, inability to effectively suppress micro-movements, and inconvenience in feeding operations.

[0010] The technical solution adopted in this invention is as follows: A multi-degree-of-freedom fixation and support device for a flexible ureteroscope, comprising: An adjustable support is used to fix the device on the operating table and provide multi-degree-of-freedom position adjustment; The support unit, connected to the end of the adjustment bracket, is used to support the middle section of the ureteroscope shaft in a distributed low-pressure manner. The support unit includes a parallelogram bracket with its sides hinged together; the upper ends of the two vertical side rods of the parallelogram bracket extend outward and are respectively connected to a guide clamping cylinder; the middle section of the ureteroscope shaft passes axially through the middle of the two guide clamping cylinders; a sealing elastic thin liquid bladder is provided on the inner wall of the guide clamping cylinder; the sealing elastic thin liquid bladder is filled with viscous liquid; the side of the sealing elastic thin liquid bladder facing the axis of the guide clamping cylinder is provided with multiple protrusions. The plurality of protruding structures include alternating long protrusions and short protrusions, and the internal cavities of the long protrusions and short protrusions are interconnected with the internal cavity of the main body of the sealed elastic thin liquid bladder, together forming a continuous fluid chamber filled with the viscous liquid.

[0011] Preferably, the viscous liquid is a non-Newtonian fluid.

[0012] Preferably, the viscous liquid is an electrorheological fluid or a magnetorheological fluid.

[0013] Preferably, the viscous liquid is an electrorheological fluid; a counter electrode is attached to the inner wall of the sealed elastic thin liquid bladder; the device further includes a control circuit electrically connected to the counter electrode, which controls the viscosity of the electrorheological fluid by changing the electric field strength applied to the counter electrode.

[0014] Preferably, the device further includes: The sensing module includes at least one high-frequency inertial measurement unit disposed inside the guide clamping cylinder, used to acquire the acceleration and angular velocity data of the ureteroscope in real time at a sampling frequency of not less than Hz; The processing and control module includes an embedded microprocessor that is signal-connected to the sensing module and the control circuit. The embedded microprocessor is configured to execute the following algorithm steps: Step S1: Data preprocessing and feature extraction, filtering and denoising the received acceleration and angular velocity data, and calculating the real-time motion velocity and displacement of the mirror body in three-dimensional space; Step S2: Motion trend prediction. The preprocessed time series data sequence is input into a pre-trained mirror motion prediction model, which outputs the predicted displacement vector of the mirror within a specific future time window. The mirror motion prediction model is a deep learning model based on a long short-term memory network architecture. Step S3: Slip risk assessment and decision-making. The predicted displacement vector is compared with a preset safety threshold. If the predicted displacement exceeds the threshold, a slip risk is determined and a high-risk control command is generated. If the threshold is not exceeded, a low-risk maintenance command is generated. Step S4: Adaptive clamping force control. According to the generated control command, a corresponding voltage signal is sent to the control circuit. For high-risk control commands, a high voltage signal is output to make the electrorheological fluid tend to solidify, thereby achieving strong locking. For low-risk maintenance commands, a low voltage signal is output to make the electrorheological fluid remain in a semi-solid viscous state, thereby achieving dynamic damping.

[0015] Preferably, in step S2, the future specific time window is milliseconds; the pre-trained endoscope motion prediction model is obtained by supervised learning training using a data sequence containing endoscope micro-motions caused by respiratory fluctuations and hand tremors during clinical surgery.

[0016] Preferably, the sensing module further includes a miniature pressure distribution sensor array disposed on the contact surface between the sealed elastic thin liquid bladder and the mirror body, for real-time acquisition of the pressure distribution map of the contact surface between the mirror body and the liquid bladder; in step S3, when the embedded microprocessor performs slip risk assessment, it also integrates the information of the predicted displacement vector and the pressure distribution map. If the predicted displacement does not exceed the threshold but the pressure distribution map shows that the pressure concentration is too high, a high-risk control command is also generated to rebalance the clamping pressure.

[0017] Preferably, the device further includes a haptic feedback device connected to the embedded microprocessor; in step S4, when a high-risk control command is generated, the embedded microprocessor synchronously controls the haptic feedback device to generate a strong vibration to alert the operator.

[0018] Preferably, a handheld movable cylinder is also provided between the two guide clamping cylinders; the internal structure of the handheld movable cylinder is the same as that of the guide clamping cylinder, and a first switch button and a second switch button are provided on the outside of the cylinder body; the first switch button is used to control the electrorheological liquid phase state in the two guide clamping cylinders, and the second switch button is used to control the electrorheological liquid phase state in the handheld movable cylinder.

[0019] Preferably, each connection part of the adjustment bracket is provided with a magnetorheological damper; the device further includes a pose sensing module for sensing the overall spatial pose of the support unit; the embedded microprocessor is further configured to: control the damping force of each magnetorheological damper according to the signal of the pose sensing module, so as to help maintain or smoothly adjust the pose of the support unit.

[0020] The multi-degree-of-freedom fixation and support device for flexible ureteroscopes provided by this invention, through a series of interconnected and synergistic technological innovations, produces a series of unexpected beneficial effects compared to existing technologies, which are described in detail below: Firstly, at the core level of endoscope clamping and support, this invention achieves a fundamental breakthrough by creating an "internally connected, sealed, elastic thin-walled liquid bladder" structure, supplemented by a specific arrangement of "alternating long and short protrusions." This structure allows each protrusion to adaptively deform under the principle of fluid incompressibility and pressure self-balancing when the ureteroscope's shaft passes through the guide clamping cylinder, thus achieving a circumferentially and uniformly distributed flexible wrapping of the endoscope. This fundamentally overcomes the stress concentration problems of "point contact" or "line contact" caused by rigid clamping or simple elastic pads in existing technologies, significantly reducing the risk of scratching or crushing the surface of the precision and expensive ureteroscope, achieving the primary beneficial effect of low damage and highly adaptable support. Simultaneously, the viscous fluid (preferably a non-Newtonian fluid) filled in the liquid bladder generates a significant viscous damping effect when flowing within the interconnected cavities between the protrusions. This effect exhibits high impedance characteristics for high-frequency micro-movements (such as physiological tremors of the surgeon's hand), effectively absorbing and attenuating such disturbances; while for low-frequency, intentional macroscopic movements, the impedance is lower, allowing for smooth passage. This brings a second beneficial effect of dynamic damping and vibration filtering, providing an inherent stability buffer for surgical procedures.

[0021] Secondly, this invention introduces smart materials and an active control mechanism, elevating the clamping state from static and passive to dynamic and controllable. By further defining the viscous liquid as an electrorheological or magnetorheological fluid, and providing a control circuit and corresponding electrodes electrically connected to it, the physical characteristics of the clamping unit become variables that can be controlled by electric or magnetic fields. This allows the surgeon or intelligent system to adjust the clamping force in real time and steplessly according to the actual needs of the surgical process (e.g., damping buffering is needed during the fine positioning stage, while absolute locking is needed during the laser lithotripsy stage). This technology solves the dilemma of traditional devices being "clamped too tightly and released too easily," achieving the key benefit of programmable and adaptive switching of the clamping state, greatly enhancing the device's adaptability and operational flexibility.

[0022] Furthermore, this invention achieves proactive stability assurance by integrating multimodal sensing and predictive algorithms, a unique intelligent feature not found in existing technologies. Specifically, by using an inertial measurement unit within the clamping cylinder to collect the kinematic parameters of the endoscope in real time and inputting them into a predictive model trained on a long short-term memory network running in the embedded processing module, the device can predict the displacement trend of the endoscope within a specific future time window. Once the prediction result exceeds a safety threshold, the system will trigger the control circuit to adjust the electric field strength and actively enhance the clamping force to suppress potential risks before actual slippage occurs. This closed-loop control logic of "perception-prediction-decision-execution" endows the device with outstanding benefits in predictive anti-slip and proactive safety intervention, upgrading surgical safety from a passive response dependent on the surgeon's experience to proactive protection empowered by the system.

[0023] Furthermore, the invention's unique "handheld moving cylinder" and its collaborative control logic with the "guide clamping cylinder" pioneer a completely new paradigm for endoscope feeding operations. By setting separate first and second switch buttons and pre-setting their control logic (e.g., the second switch button controls the power supply to the handheld moving cylinder, and the first switch button controls the power supply to the two guide clamping cylinders), the surgeon can conveniently execute a cyclical operation sequence of "locking the handheld cylinder, advancing the endoscope, locking the guide cylinder, and resetting the handheld cylinder." This method decomposes the long-stroke continuous feeding into multiple short-stroke discrete controllable steps, making the thrust application point closer to the center of the endoscope, effectively avoiding the instability and bending problems that easily occur when pushing long, thin, and flexible rods. This achieves the significant benefit of precise, labor-saving, and controllable segmented endoscope feeding, greatly improving the accuracy and efficiency of surgical operations.

[0024] Finally, this invention extends the concept of intelligence to the entire support structure. Magnetorheological dampers are installed at each joint of the adjustable stent, supplemented by a pose sensing module, enabling global locking of the joint damping via electronic control once the entire stent is in place. This ensures an absolutely stable support foundation for all the aforementioned functions during surgery, eliminating secondary interference caused by the stent's own swaying, and forming a complete stability solution from local clamping to global support.

[0025] In summary, the various technical features of this invention do not exist in isolation, but rather constitute an organic whole. Specifically, the "connected fluid-filled balloon protrusion structure" provides fundamental low-damage adaptive support and passive damping; the "electrorheological fluid and control circuit" endows the clamping state with dynamic adjustability; the "multi-sensor and predictive algorithm" realizes intelligent active safety; the "handheld moving tube collaborative logic" revolutionizes human-computer interaction and operation modes; and the "intelligent damping of the overall stent" lays the foundation for the stability of the entire system. These technical means support each other, progressing layer by layer, and working together to produce a synergistic and amplified beneficial effect, ultimately providing a ureteroscope fixation and support device that far surpasses existing technologies in terms of stability, safety, operability, and intelligence, and has positive practical significance for promoting the advancement of related medical technologies. Attached Figure Description

[0026] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the device structure of the present invention; Figure 2 This is a cross-sectional schematic diagram of the guide clamping cylinder of the present invention; Figure 3 for Figure 2 Enlarged view of the area circled in the middle; Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the workflow of the present invention.

[0027] In the diagram, 1. Adjustable support; 11. Clamping mechanism; 12. Base; 13. Telescopic rod; 14. Connecting rod; 15. Connecting seat; 2. Support unit; 21. Parallelogram support; 211. Vertical side rod; 212. Horizontal side rod; 22. Guide clamping cylinder; 23. Sealing elastic thin liquid balloon; 231. Long protrusion; 232. Short protrusion; 233. Viscous liquid; 24. Handheld moving cylinder; 241. First switch button; 242. Second switch button; 3. Flexible ureteroscope. Detailed Implementation

[0028] The present invention will be further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments, but this is not intended to limit the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0029] like Figure 1 As shown, this invention provides a multi-degree-of-freedom fixation and support device for a flexible ureteroscope, mainly comprising two parts: an adjusting bracket 1 and a support unit 2. The adjusting bracket 1 is used to firmly fix the entire device to the railing of the operating table and provides multi-degree-of-freedom position adjustment to ensure that the support unit 2 can be accurately positioned to the optimal position required for the surgery. The support unit 2 is used to stably and flexibly support the middle section of the flexible ureteroscope 3 in a distributed low-pressure manner, preventing it from slipping or excessively bending.

[0030] The adjusting bracket 1 includes a clamping mechanism 11, a base 12, a telescopic rod 13, multiple connecting rods 14, and a connecting seat 15. The clamping mechanism 11 uses a universal clamping head, which can be used to quickly clamp onto the metal railing beside the operating table. The base 12 is vertically arranged and can rotate horizontally relative to the clamping mechanism 11. The telescopic rod 13 is fixed to the base 12 by a knob locking mechanism and can be extended and retracted vertically. The end of the telescopic rod 13 is rotatably connected to multiple sequentially hinged connecting rods 14 through a ball joint or universal joint. The end of the last connecting rod 14 is rotatably connected to the connecting seat 15 through a universal connector. The connecting seat 15 is fixed to the middle of the lowermost horizontal side rod 212 of the parallelogram bracket 21 of the supporting unit 2. Crucially, magnetorheological dampers (not shown in the figure) are provided at each rotatable connection point of the clamping mechanism 11, the base 12, the telescopic rod 13, each connecting rod 14, and the connecting seat 15. These magnetorheological dampers are uniformly controlled by a control module located in the base 12. The damping force is adjusted in real time by changing the magnetic field strength, so that the support can be flexibly adjusted and generate sufficient friction after adjustment to maintain attitude stability.

[0031] The support unit 2 is the core of this invention. Its main body is a parallelogram-shaped support 21 with its sides hinged together. The upper ends of the two vertical side rods 211 of this support 21 extend outwards (i.e., away from the center of the support) and are each connected to a guide clamping cylinder 22. The middle section of the ureteroscope 3 passes axially through the central holes of these two guide clamping cylinders 22. By changing the shape of the parallelogram-shaped support 21, the deflection angle of the two guide clamping cylinders 22 can be changed simultaneously, thereby adaptively guiding and supporting the ureteroscope in different bending states.

[0032] like Figure 2 and Figure 3 As shown, the internal structure of the guide clamping cylinder 22 is key to achieving low-damage, adaptive clamping. Its inner wall is provided with a sealed, elastic thin liquid bladder 23 made of highly elastic silicone material. This liquid bladder 23 is filled with a viscous liquid 233. The viscous liquid 233 can be a common non-Newtonian fluid, a magnetorheological fluid, or an electrorheological fluid. In this embodiment, the viscous liquid 233 is preferably an electrorheological fluid. Electrorheological fluids exhibit good fluidity in the absence of an electric field, but after applying a high-intensity electric field, their viscosity increases dramatically, even transforming into a near-solid state within milliseconds.

[0033] The sealed elastic thin liquid bladder 23 has alternating long protrusions 231 and short protrusions 232 precisely molded on the side facing the axis. A key design feature of this invention is that the internal cavities of these long protrusions 231 and short protrusions 232 are completely connected to the internal cavity of the main body of the liquid bladder 23, together forming a continuous fluid chamber filled with electrorheological fluid.

[0034] When the flexible ureteroscope 3 passes through the guide clamp 22, the following process occurs: Low-resistance insertion and adaptive bonding: The microscope body first contacts and compresses the long protrusion 231. Due to internal connectivity, the electrorheological fluid inside the long protrusion 231 is squeezed towards the adjacent short protrusion 232, increasing the internal pressure of the short protrusion 232 and causing it to bulge outward, thus bonding with the microscope body in advance. This hydraulic pressure self-transmission mechanism makes the microscope insertion process smooth and seamless, and can automatically adapt to minute changes in the microscope diameter, forming a uniform enveloping contact and avoiding stress concentration caused by point contact.

[0035] Dynamic damping and micro-motion filtering: During the movement of the endoscope, the internal electrorheological fluid flows at high speed between the connected protrusions, generating viscous damping force. This damping force has a significant inhibitory effect on high-frequency micro-motions (such as hand tremors), while providing less resistance to the surgeon's intentional slow movements, thus "filtering" harmful vibrations.

[0036] To achieve a higher level of stability, this device integrates an intelligent sensing and control system.

[0037] Inside each guide clamping sleeve 22, a high-frequency (100-200Hz) inertial measurement unit (IMU) is embedded to acquire the acceleration and angular velocity data of the flexible ureteroscope 3 in real time. At the same time, a miniature pressure distribution sensor array is attached to the inner surface of the sealed elastic thin fluid bladder 23 to monitor the pressure distribution at the contact surface between the endoscope and the fluid bladder.

[0038] Within the base 12 of the regulating bracket 1, there is an embedded microprocessor (i.e., a processing control module) and an electrorheological fluid control circuit. The control circuit is connected to a relative electrode disposed on the inner wall of the liquid bladder 23, and is used to generate a high-voltage electric field to control the phase change of the electrorheological fluid.

[0039] The embedded microprocessor executes the following algorithm steps to achieve intelligent clamping: Step S1: Data preprocessing. Filter the raw data acquired by the IMU (e.g., Kalman filtering) to remove noise, and integrate to calculate the real-time velocity and displacement of the mirror.

[0040] Step S2: Motion Trend Prediction. The preprocessed time-series data (e.g., a data sequence from the past second) is input into a pre-trained Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) network model. This model, trained using extensive data on endoscopic micro-motions recorded during clinical surgeries, is capable of accurately predicting the displacement trend of the endoscope within the next 500 milliseconds (predicted displacement vector).

[0041] Step S3: Slip Risk Assessment and Decision. The predicted displacement vector is compared with a preset safety threshold (e.g., 0.2 mm). Simultaneously, data from the pressure distribution sensor is comprehensively analyzed to determine if pressure unevenness exists. If the predicted displacement exceeds the limit or the pressure concentration is too high, a "high-risk" control command is generated; otherwise, a "low-risk" command is generated.

[0042] Step S4: Adaptive clamping force control. For "high-risk" commands, the microprocessor immediately instructs the control circuit to output a high voltage, causing the electrorheological fluid inside the guide clamping cylinder 22 to instantly "solidify," achieving emergency braking and strong locking. For "low-risk" commands, a lower voltage is output, keeping the electrorheological fluid in a high-viscosity semi-solid state, providing good dynamic damping while allowing the operator to make fine adjustments.

[0043] Between the two guide clamping cylinders 22, there is a handheld moving cylinder 24. Its internal structure is exactly the same as that of the guide clamping cylinders 22. Externally, there are two switch buttons: a first switch button 241 and a second switch button 242. The first switch button 241 is used to simultaneously control the phase state of the electrorheological fluid in both guide clamping cylinders 22. The second switch button 242 controls the electrorheological fluid in the handheld moving cylinder 24 independently. The handheld moving cylinder 24 also integrates a tactile feedback device (such as a miniature vibration motor).

[0044] like Figure 4 The working process of the device of the present invention is a complete closed loop from mechanical positioning to intelligent assisted operation, which can be divided into the following main stages: Phase 1: Preoperative preparation and device positioning The surgeon or nurse securely clamps the clamping mechanism 11 of the adjustable support 1 to the metal railing next to the operating table. Rotate the large handwheel to ensure sufficient clamping force and prevent loosening during the procedure.

[0045] Connect to an external 24V medical safety power supply. After the device is powered on, the central control module located in the base 12 starts and performs a system self-test: checking whether the communication of each sensor (IMU, pressure sensor) is normal, whether the electrorheological fluid high-voltage drive circuit is ready, and whether the function of each magnetorheological damper is intact. After the self-test passes, the indicator light shows a green standby state.

[0046] At this time, the electrorheological fluid in the two guide clamping cylinders 22 and the handheld moving cylinder 24 is in a state without electric field (liquid state). The magnetorheological dampers at each joint of the adjusting bracket 1 are also in a low-damping state, allowing for free manual adjustment.

[0047] The operator manually adjusts the support 1 by first rotating the base 12 horizontally so that the support unit 2 is roughly facing the patient; then pulling out or pushing in the telescopic rod 13 to adjust it to a suitable height; finally, bending the multiple connecting rods 14 to precisely move the parallelogram support 21 of the support unit 2 to the expected ureteroscope 3 access path.

[0048] After adjustment, the operator presses a "posture lock" soft switch located on the handheld moving tube 24 or the connecting seat 15. Upon receiving the signal, the central control module immediately outputs a constant excitation current to all magnetorheological dampers on the adjusting bracket 1. The magnetorheological fluid inside the dampers instantly solidifies, generating a huge damping force that "freezes" all joints of the entire adjusting bracket 1 in the current posture, forming a stable rigid support.

[0049] Phase Two: Insertion and Initial Clamping of the Ureteroscope The operator moves the rod of the flexible ureteroscope 3 axially through the first guide clamp 22, the hand-held moving tube 24, and the second guide clamp 22 in sequence from the end away from the patient.

[0050] During the insertion process, because the electrorheological fluid is in a liquid state, and the long protrusion 231 and short protrusion 232 inside the sealed elastic thin liquid bladder 23 are internally connected, when the microscope body squeezes the long protrusion 231, the electrorheological fluid inside it flows smoothly to and fills the short protrusion 232, causing the short protrusion 232 to also expand and fit against the microscope body. This fluid pressure self-balancing effect makes the resistance of the microscope body extremely small during the insertion process, and it can automatically adapt to the slight changes in the diameter of the microscope body, achieving smooth insertion.

[0051] After the endoscope is guided into place (the end enters the patient's body and approaches the target area), the operator presses the "posture lock" switch again to release the lock of the adjustment bracket 1, makes a final fine adjustment to put the support unit 2 in the best position for operation, and then locks the bracket again.

[0052] At this point, the operator selects to enter "Intelligent Assistance Mode" through the system interface (such as a connected handheld tablet or integrated small screen). Once activated, the device's core control algorithm begins to run: Data Acquisition and Filtering (S1): The IMUs in each cylinder begin acquiring micro-motion data of the mirror body at a frequency of 100Hz, and the pressure sensor array begins monitoring the pressure distribution. The data is filtered and processed in real time.

[0053] Motion trend prediction (S2): The embedded microprocessor continuously feeds the time series data of the past second into the pre-trained LSTM model to predict the displacement trend of the mirror body in the next 500 milliseconds in real time.

[0054] Dynamic damping maintenance (S3 / S4 - Low-risk decision): When there is no significant movement of the scope, the displacement predicted by the algorithm is usually less than the safety threshold. At this point, the system determines it to be "low-risk" and applies a moderate voltage to the electrodes of the two guide clamping cylinders 22. This keeps the electrorheological fluid inside the cylinders in a high-viscosity semi-solid state. In this state, the device effectively suppresses high-frequency micro-movements (damping effect) caused by patient breathing or operator hand tremors, but the scope can still move slowly under a certain thrust, facilitating fine-tuning by the operator.

[0055] Phase 3: Precision feed operation based on handheld moving tube This is the most innovative operational step of the invention, used to achieve stable and controllable propulsion of the mirror body.

[0056] Step 1: When the surgeon needs to advance the scope into the patient's body a certain distance, he / she holds the handheld moving tube 24 with one hand and moves it to a position on the scope rod that is convenient for applying force.

[0057] Then, press and hold the second switch button 242. Upon receiving the instruction, the central control module performs the following actions: immediately applies a high voltage to the electrodes inside the handheld moving tube 24, causing the electrorheological fluid inside to instantly solidify into a "solid state," thereby firmly clamping and fixing the handheld moving tube 24 to the mirror body at its current position. At this time, the handheld moving tube 24 becomes a new, rigid "handle" on the mirror body. The two guide clamping tubes 22 remain in their previous semi-solid damped state.

[0058] Step 2: Since the front guide clamping cylinder 22 is in a semi-solid state (allowing slow passage), while the rear guide clamping cylinder 22 provides support, the operator can smoothly push the handheld moving cylinder 24 forward (towards the patient).

[0059] The handheld moving tube 24 drives the section of the microscope body it holds, moving it smoothly through the front guide clamping tube 22, which is in a semi-solid damped state, like an earthworm, achieving precise feeding of a section of the microscope body. This "push point" is very stable, avoiding bending and loss of control caused by directly pushing the long microscope body.

[0060] Step 3: When the handheld moving tube 24 is pushed close to or reaches the front guide clamping tube 22, the operator presses the first switch button 241.

[0061] The central control module performs rapid support point switching: a) Rigid locking of guide cylinders: Immediately apply high voltage to the electrodes inside the two guide clamping cylinders 22 to solidify the electrorheological fluid inside them into a "solid state", thus firmly locking the mirror body in its latest position.

[0062] b) Release of handheld tube: At the same time, the electric field of the handheld moving tube 24 is released, causing the internal current to return to a "liquid state", releasing the clamping of the mirror body.

[0063] The entire process is completed within milliseconds. At this point, the task of supporting the mirror body is entirely undertaken by the two rigidly locked guide clamps 22.

[0064] The surgeon moves the released handheld moving tube 24 backward, moving it to a new position on the scope rod that is closer to the surgeon and easier to push next.

[0065] Loop operation: Repeating steps 5 to 7 (locking the handheld tube -> pushing the feed -> changing the support -> resetting the handheld tube) will achieve stable and controllable feeding of the scope segment by segment. The logic for retracting the scope is completely reversed.

[0066] Phase 4: Intelligent Security Monitoring and Emergency Response Throughout the entire surgery, the intelligent algorithm runs in the background, acting as a "safety guardian".

[0067] If, in "Intelligent Assistance Mode," the algorithm (S2 step) predicts that the scope will experience a rapid displacement trend exceeding the safety threshold (high risk) due to an accident (such as the patient coughing or the surgeon being bumped), the system will immediately intervene proactively without waiting for button operation.

[0068] In step S4, the microprocessor applies the highest voltage to the electrodes of all the tubes (two guide clamping tubes 22 and handheld moving tube 24), causing the electrorheological fluid to solidify instantly, thus "brakes" the mirror body and prevents further slippage and damage.

[0069] At the same time, the tactile feedback device on the handheld mobile tube 24 will generate a strong continuous vibration, accompanied by an audible and visual alarm, clearly alerting the operator.

[0070] After the surgery, the surgeon will exit the "intelligent assistance mode" of the system.

[0071] Press the first switch button 241 and the second switch button 242 to ensure that the electrorheological fluid in all cylinders returns to a liquid state.

[0072] Gently withdraw the flexible ureteroscope 3 from the device. Due to the interconnected protrusion structure and the presence of the electrorheological fluid, the resistance during withdrawal is very small.

[0073] Release the lock of the adjustment bracket 1, remove the device from the operating table, clean and disinfect it for future use.

[0074] Since this invention is an auxiliary device and does not directly act on the human body, it has achieved excellent results in auxiliary applications: Case 1: In laser lithotripsy for small kidney stones (approximately 5mm in diameter) in the upper calyx, if the patient is obese and has a large diaphragm, their respiratory movements can cause significant periodic displacement of the kidney and surrounding tissues. In traditional procedures, the surgeon or assistant attempts to maintain stability by holding and fixing the midsection of the slender ureteroscope. However, as a flexible rod, the ureteroscope directly transmits this low-frequency, high-amplitude disturbance to the distal end, causing continuous shaking of the endoscopic field of view. The surgeon struggles to precisely and stably align the tiny spot of the laser fiber with the target stone, often requiring repeated attempts. This significantly prolongs the procedure time (by an average of 10-15 minutes) and leads to severe mental fatigue due to prolonged focus on the shaking field of view.

[0075] The application of this invention fundamentally changes the operational process. The surgeon first passes the flexible endoscope through the guide clamp of the device, which is fixed to the operating table, and then precisely adjusts the support unit to the path where the endoscope hangs naturally. The surgeon then activates the device's "intelligent assistance mode." At this point, the inertial measurement unit embedded inside the guide clamp begins to collect the endoscope's acceleration and angular velocity data at high frequency in real time. This timing data is transmitted to the embedded microprocessor, whose pre-installed long short-term memory network prediction algorithm analyzes the data stream, predicting the endoscope displacement trend caused by respiration approximately 500 milliseconds in advance. Based on this prediction, the algorithm's decision-maker generates control commands: at the beginning of each inspiratory phase, a moderately increased voltage is applied to the relative electrodes of the electrorheological fluid inside the guide clamp, increasing the fluid's viscosity and placing it in a highly damped semi-solid state. This action does not compensate for displacement after it occurs, but rather enhances system damping in advance, effectively suppressing the displacement amplitude of the endoscope tip within a range invisible to the naked eye of ±0.1 mm. The effect is that the surgeon observes an extremely stable target image through the endoscope, allowing them to easily and quickly aim the laser spot at the stone and efficiently break it up. Throughout the process, the surgeon does not need to "fight" against the movement of the endoscope, thus shortening the operation time, significantly reducing surgeon fatigue, and qualitatively improving the accuracy and efficiency of the surgery.

[0076] Case 2: When a flexible ureteroscope needs to pass through a narrowed or tortuous upper ureter, the traditional method of advancement involves the operator holding the end of the scope and pushing it into the patient's body. Because the scope is over one meter long and made of flexible material, this method of applying force from the end has serious mechanical defects: the force easily splits into a radial component during its axial transmission along the scope, causing the scope to bend in the middle, producing a so-called "bending" effect. The direct consequence is that the operator pushes the scope several centimeters outside the body while the end only advances less than one centimeter, resulting in unclear manipulation and inaccurate control of the feed rate. This is not only inefficient, but more dangerously, sudden excessive force may cause the scope to lose control when breaking through the narrowed area, resulting in tearing or perforation of the ureteral mucosa.

[0077] This invention revolutionizes the operation by introducing a handheld moving tube and its coordinated control logic. The surgeon holds the handheld moving tube with one hand, moves it to a suitable position on the endoscope's shaft, and then presses the second switch button. At this point, only the electrorheological fluid inside the handheld moving tube solidifies, firmly clamping it onto the endoscope, creating a new, handheld point of leverage. The surgeon then smoothly pushes the handheld moving tube forward. Because the thrust acts directly on the middle of the endoscope, the force path is short and direct, effectively preventing the endoscope from bending. Simultaneously, the front guide clamping tube is in a semi-solid state, providing moderate damping, allowing the endoscope to pass smoothly. When a section of feed is completed and the handheld moving tube approaches the front guide tube, the surgeon presses the first switch button. The device instantly solidifies the electrorheological fluid in both guide clamping tubes to lock the endoscope in its new position, while simultaneously releasing the grip of the handheld moving tube. The surgeon can then retract the handheld moving tube to prepare for the next advance. This "segmented feeding" method breaks down long-distance, uncertain, continuous pushing into multiple short-stroke, high-precision, controllable steps. The effect is to achieve centimeter-level precise and controllable feeding, which significantly improves the success rate and safety of passing through narrow sections, while freeing the surgeon from laborious and inaccurate pushing operations.

[0078] Case 3: The flexible ureteroscope is a highly precise medical device. Its outer layer is covered with a special polymer material, making it expensive and extremely sensitive to surface damage. In complex stone surgeries that are lengthy (e.g., exceeding three hours), if a traditional mechanical locking support arm is used to fix the endoscope, the metal clamps or V-grooves form a hard contact with the endoscope surface. Even with "appropriate" locking force, the small contact area leads to excessively high local pressure. Postoperative examinations often reveal obvious indentations or even damage to the covering layer at the endoscope clamping site, forcing the instrument to be taken out of service and sent for repair, resulting in high maintenance costs and downtime losses.

[0079] This invention solves this problem at its structural design level. Its core lies in the sealed, elastic, thin fluid-filled bladder within the guide clamping cylinder, and the long and short protrusions connected to it. When the flexible ureteroscope passes through the guide clamping cylinder, the endoscope surface compresses these protrusions. Because the internal cavity of the protrusion is connected to the fluid-filled bladder and filled with electrorheological fluid, according to Pascal's principle, the pressure applied to one protrusion is evenly transmitted through the fluid to all adjacent protrusions, causing them to deform in a coordinated manner to conform to the endoscope surface. This mechanism ensures that the clamping force is no longer concentrated at a single point or line, but is distributed across a larger contact surface, forming a uniform, low-pressure distributed support. Even when maximum locking force is required during surgery (such as to cope with a sudden cough) and the electrorheological fluid solidifies, it provides an overall, uniform solid pressure, rather than the concentrated stress of mechanical jaws. Therefore, after a long surgery, microscopic examination of the endoscope clamping section reveals a smooth surface without any indentations or signs of damage. This effect directly demonstrates the significant value of this invention in protecting expensive surgical instruments and reducing hospital operating costs.

[0080] Case 4: During surgery, a patient's sudden, uncontrollable, violent cough due to anesthesia or other irritants poses an extreme challenge to surgical safety. At this time, the patient's chest cavity, abdominal cavity, and kidneys experience instantaneous and significant violent movement. In traditional support or handheld methods, the endoscope may slip from its fixed point due to immense inertia, with an instantaneous displacement of several centimeters or even more than ten centimeters. This can easily cause severe tearing of the renal pelvis lining (or "flexible endoscope-related pelvic injury"), requiring the surgeon to urgently withdraw the endoscope and relocate the surgical target. This perilous process interrupts the surgery and poses additional risks to the patient.

[0081] The intelligent safety system of this invention plays a crucial role in such emergencies. When a cough occurs, the resulting intense, high-frequency acceleration signal is instantly captured by the inertial measurement unit within the guide clamping cylinder. This abnormal signal is immediately fed into the processor's predictive algorithm. Based on its training data, the algorithm can identify within milliseconds that this movement pattern represents an extremely high-risk unintentional displacement. The decision-maker then triggers the highest level of safety response: immediately applying the highest voltage to the electrorheological electrodes of all clamping units in the system (including the two guide clamping cylinders and the handheld moving cylinder), instantly solidifying them from their current state to a rigid solid within 1-2 milliseconds, as if applying multiple emergency brakes to the endoscope. Simultaneously, the system sends a strong vibration alarm to the surgeon via a tactile feedback device on the handheld moving cylinder. The ultimate effect is to limit the potential centimeter-level dangerous slippage of the endoscope to an extremely small range at the millimeter or even sub-millimeter level, thereby effectively avoiding tissue damage. Upon receiving the alarm, the surgeon knows that the system has intervened, allowing them to calmly assess the situation and continue the surgery safely once the patient has stabilized. This active safety braking function provides a reliable "insurance" for the surgery, greatly enhancing the ability to cope with unexpected situations.

[0082] The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention and is not intended to limit the present invention. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions and improvements made within the spirit and principles of the present invention should be included within the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A multi-degree-of-freedom fixation and support device for a flexible ureteroscope, characterized in that, include: Adjustable support (1) is used to fix the device on the operating table and provide multi-degree-of-freedom position adjustment; The support unit (2) is connected to the end of the adjustment bracket (1) and is used to support the middle section of the rod of the flexible ureteroscope (3) in a distributed low-pressure manner. The supporting unit (2) includes a parallelogram bracket (21) with its sides hinged together; the upper ends of the two vertical side rods (211) of the parallelogram bracket (21) extend outward and are respectively connected to a guide clamping cylinder (22); the middle section of the rod of the flexible ureteroscope (3) passes through the middle of the two guide clamping cylinders (22) axially; a layer of sealing elastic thin liquid sac (23) is provided on the inner wall of the guide clamping cylinder (22); the sealing elastic thin liquid sac (23) is filled with viscous liquid (233); the side of the sealing elastic thin liquid sac (23) facing the axis of the guide clamping cylinder (22) is provided with multiple protrusion structures; The plurality of protruding structures include alternating long protrusions (231) and short protrusions (232), and the internal cavities of the long protrusions (231) and the short protrusions (232) are interconnected with the internal cavity of the main body of the sealed elastic thin liquid bladder (23), together forming a continuous fluid chamber filled with the viscous liquid (233).

2. The multi-degree-of-freedom fixation and support device for a flexible ureteroscope according to claim 1, characterized in that, The viscous liquid (233) is a non-Newtonian fluid.

3. The multi-degree-of-freedom fixation and support device for a flexible ureteroscope according to claim 1, characterized in that, The viscous liquid (233) is an electrorheological fluid or a magnetorheological fluid.

4. The multi-degree-of-freedom fixation and support device for a flexible ureteroscope according to claim 3, characterized in that, The viscous liquid (233) is an electrorheological fluid; the inner wall of the sealed elastic thin liquid bladder (23) is attached with a relative electrode; the device also includes a control circuit, which is electrically connected to the relative electrode and controls the viscosity of the electrorheological fluid by changing the electric field strength applied to the relative electrode.

5. The multi-degree-of-freedom fixation and support device for a flexible ureteroscope according to claim 4, characterized in that, The device further includes: The sensing module includes at least one high-frequency inertial measurement unit disposed inside the guide clamping cylinder (22) for real-time acquisition of acceleration and angular velocity data of the ureteroscope (3) at a sampling frequency of not less than 100Hz. The processing and control module includes an embedded microprocessor that is signal-connected to the sensing module and the control circuit. The embedded microprocessor is configured to execute the following algorithm steps: Step S1: Data preprocessing and feature extraction, filtering and denoising the received acceleration and angular velocity data, and calculating the real-time motion velocity and displacement of the mirror body in three-dimensional space; Step S2: Motion trend prediction. The preprocessed time series data sequence is input into a pre-trained mirror motion prediction model, which outputs the predicted displacement vector of the mirror within a specific future time window. The mirror motion prediction model is a deep learning model based on a long short-term memory network architecture. Step S3: Slip risk assessment and decision-making. The predicted displacement vector is compared with a preset safety threshold. If the predicted displacement exceeds the threshold, a slip risk is determined and a high-risk control command is generated. If the threshold is not exceeded, a low-risk maintenance command is generated. Step S4: Adaptive clamping force control. According to the generated control command, a corresponding voltage signal is sent to the control circuit. For high-risk control commands, a high voltage signal is output to make the electrorheological fluid tend to solidify, thereby achieving strong locking. For low-risk maintenance commands, a low voltage signal is output to make the electrorheological fluid remain in a semi-solid viscous state, thereby achieving dynamic damping.

6. The multi-degree-of-freedom fixation and support device for a flexible ureteroscope according to claim 5, characterized in that, In step S2, the future specific time window is 500 milliseconds; the pre-trained endoscope motion prediction model is obtained by supervised learning training using a data sequence containing endoscope micro-motions caused by respiratory fluctuations and hand tremors during clinical surgery.

7. The multi-degree-of-freedom fixation and support device for a flexible ureteroscope according to claim 5, characterized in that, The sensing module also includes a miniature pressure distribution sensor array disposed on the contact surface between the sealed elastic thin liquid bladder (23) and the mirror body, for real-time acquisition of the pressure distribution map of the contact surface between the mirror body and the liquid bladder; in step S3, when the embedded microprocessor performs slip risk assessment, it also integrates the information of the predicted displacement vector and the pressure distribution map. If the predicted displacement does not exceed the threshold but the pressure distribution map shows that the pressure concentration is too high, a high-risk control command is also generated to rebalance the clamping pressure.

8. The multi-degree-of-freedom fixation and support device for a flexible ureteroscope according to claim 5, characterized in that, The device also includes a haptic feedback device connected to the embedded microprocessor; in step S4, when a high-risk control command is generated, the embedded microprocessor synchronously controls the haptic feedback device to generate a strong vibration to alert the operator.

9. The multi-degree-of-freedom fixation and support device for a flexible ureteroscope according to claim 3, characterized in that, A handheld moving cylinder (24) is also provided between the two guide clamping cylinders (22); the internal structure of the handheld moving cylinder (24) is the same as that of the guide clamping cylinder (22), and a first switch button (241) and a second switch button (242) are provided on the outside of its cylinder body; the first switch button (241) is used to control the electrorheological liquid phase state in the two guide clamping cylinders (22), and the second switch button (242) is used to control the electrorheological liquid phase state in the handheld moving cylinder (24).

10. The multi-degree-of-freedom fixation and support device for a flexible ureteroscope according to claim 5, characterized in that, Each connection part of the adjustment bracket (1) is provided with a magnetorheological damper; the device also includes a pose sensing module for sensing the overall spatial pose of the support unit (2); the embedded microprocessor is further configured to control the damping force of each magnetorheological damper according to the signal of the pose sensing module, so as to help maintain or smoothly adjust the pose of the support unit (2).

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