Laparoscopic Camera Navigation Trainer Using Geometric Targets
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Solution Overview
Problem
Laparoscopic camera navigation training is inefficient and often conducted in the operating room, leading to frustration and poor performance, especially when using angled laparoscopes, due to the lack of effective training tools outside the surgical environment.
Innovation Solution
A system and method using optically acquired targets with a laparoscopic camera, combined with a template on the monitor, to assess and improve skills in maintaining image orientation, steadiness, and smooth transitions, utilizing equipment commonly found in laparoscopic skills labs, suitable for both 0° and angled laparoscopes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If camera navigation training is conducted in the operating room, then training can occur with real equipment, but it leads to frustration and poor performance due to inexperience and lack of proper training tools
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary training actions through a dedicated training box that allows camera operators to practice navigation skills before entering the operating room. The training box includes a simulated patient model with anatomical landmarks and targets that replicate real surgical scenarios, enabling trainees to acquire competencies in advance without occupying surgical resources.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a copy of the surgical environment through a training box that replicates key elements of the operating room setup. The training box includes a simulated patient model with anatomical features, a monitor displaying the camera view, and control mechanisms that mimic the actual camera navigation system, allowing trainees to practice in a realistic yet controlled environment.
2Adaptability or versatility
If an angled laparoscope is used to provide additional viewing angles, then the ability to look around corners is improved, but the control becomes non-intuitive and may be counter intuitive
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by providing different types of visual feedback for different aspects of angled scope control. The training system displays the actual camera view from the angled scope while simultaneously showing reference markers and anatomical landmarks that help the operator understand the relationship between scope manipulation and image orientation, creating localized visual cues that make the non-intuitive control more comprehensible.
Solution Approach 2:
The training box implements feedback mechanisms that provide real-time visual information about camera orientation and positioning. The monitor displays the live feed from the angled laparoscope along with reference markers that move in response to scope manipulation, giving the operator immediate feedback on the effect of their actions and helping them develop an intuitive understanding of the angled scope's behavior.
3Measurement precision
If robotic systems are used for camera navigation, then objective improvement in inadvertent movement and camera correction is achieved, but manual control by an experienced operator may be quicker and more efficient
Solution Approach 1:
The training box enables self-service training where operators can independently practice and develop camera navigation skills without requiring an experienced surgeon to provide continuous guidance. The system includes automated targets, reference markers, and performance feedback that allow trainees to self-assess and improve their skills, reducing the need for supervisory intervention while building competence that will later enable efficient manual control in the operating room.
Data Source
AI summary
A system for training users of laparoscopic cameras includes geometric targets disposed in spaced relation upon a base such that acquiring a laparoscopic view of each geometric target requires a change in the orientation of a laparoscopic camera. Each geometric target has disposed thereon an image of the same geometric shape, and each geometric target has an orientation line disposed thereon. The system accommodates both straight and angled laparoscopes. A method for training a person includes providing a system described above and allowing the person to use the laparoscopic camera to acquire images geometric targets. A preferred method includes the steps of having the user repeatedly acquire geometric targets with a 0 degree laparoscope until the measured time is less than a first time threshold and then having the user repeatedly acquire geometric targets with an angled laparoscope until the measured time is less than a second time threshold.