Integrated Surgical Table Icons for Safe Table Movement
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional methods for moving a patient on a surgical table relative to a computer-assisted surgical manipulator arm require removing instruments from the patient and undocking the manipulator, leading to inefficiency and potential safety issues due to inaccurate positioning and loss of visualization.
Innovation Solution
A system that allows the surgical table to be moved relative to the manipulator arms without removing instruments, using bi-directional communication and control by a computer-assisted device to ensure safe and controlled movement, with incremental adjustments and safety interlocks to prevent injury.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the manipulator arms are undocked from the cannulas and instruments are removed from the patient before moving the surgical table, then patient safety is improved during table movement, but the surgical procedure efficiency deteriorates due to time-consuming re-docking and loss of visualization
Solution Approach 1:
A safety control system acts as an intermediary between the surgical table control and the manipulator arm control. This intermediary monitors the relative positions and coordinates of the manipulator arms and surgical table, and only permits table movement when the manipulator arms are in safe docked positions, thereby maintaining both safety and procedural efficiency without requiring instrument removal
Solution Approach 2:
The system continuously receives feedback from position sensors on the manipulator arms and surgical table, processing this information in real-time to determine safe movement conditions. This feedback loop enables the surgical table to move only when manipulator arms are properly positioned, eliminating the need for undocking while maintaining safety
2Reliability
If the endoscope is removed from the patient before moving the surgical table, then patient safety is improved, but visualization of the surgical workspace is lost requiring educated guessing of new positions
Solution Approach 1:
The safety control system serves as an intermediary that permits the surgical table to move while the endoscope and manipulator arms remain docked and inserted in the patient. This eliminates the need to remove visualization equipment, maintaining continuous observation of the surgical workspace throughout table movement
3Productivity
If physicians overcorrect and select steeper positions and orientations to ensure gravity-assisted retraction, then the desired retraction effect is achieved, but patient safety deteriorates due to poor tolerance of certain orientations such as head down position
Solution Approach 1:
The system provides real-time feedback on the actual position and orientation of the surgical table relative to the manipulator arms and patient anatomy. This allows physicians to make precise, incremental adjustments to achieve the desired retraction angle without overcorrecting to steep positions that could compromise patient safety
Solution Approach 2:
The surgical table positioning system allows for dynamic, incremental adjustments during the procedure. Rather than requiring selection of fixed extreme positions, the table can be continuously adjusted to optimal angles based on real-time feedback, achieving effective retraction while maintaining patient comfort and safety
Data Source
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AI summary
A system and method for integrated surgical table icons includes a computer-assisted medical device. The computer-assisted medical device includes a control unit for controlling the computer-assisted medical device and a display unit coupled to the control unit having at least a surgical table status region. The control unit is configured to receive information from a surgical table describing an orientation of a top of the surgical table relative to a base of the surgical table, generate one or more icons graphically depicting the surgical table and the orientation, and send the one or more icons to the display unit for display within the surgical table status region. The surgical table is coupled to the computer-assisted medical device via a communications connection.