Cooperative Surgical Instrument Control With Multi-Endoscope Tracking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Surgical procedures face challenges in coordinating multiple instruments with variable surgical site access trajectories, particularly when anatomical limitations prevent simultaneous access, and existing imaging systems struggle to recognize concealed structures and convey critical information to medical practitioners.
Innovation Solution
A system comprising two surgical instruments with corresponding endoscopes and a controller that acquires images of each instrument's location, allowing for coordinated movement and interaction to achieve a common surgical purpose, even when one instrument is outside and the other is inside a body cavity, and utilizing advanced imaging and data processing to enhance visualization and control.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If multiple surgical instruments are used to operate on tissue from different anatomic spaces, then the surgical procedure can be completed successfully, but coordinating the movement and positioning of these instruments becomes difficult or impossible
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple surgical instruments into a single integrated robotic system with a common control architecture. The controller receives images from multiple endoscopes and coordinates movement of multiple instruments based on their determined locations, merging what would otherwise be independent, hard-to-coordinate operations into a unified controlled system.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback by using endoscopes to continuously image the surgical site and determine the location of each instrument. This location information is fed back to the controller, which then coordinates instrument movement accordingly, creating a closed-loop control system that enables precise coordination from multiple anatomic spaces.
2Ease of operation
If independent operation of surgical instruments is used, then each instrument can be controlled separately, but coordinated operation to achieve successful surgical outcome becomes difficult or impossible
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges independent instrument control into a coordinated system where the controller manages multiple instruments simultaneously. The controller determines the location of each instrument using endoscope images and coordinates their movement together, ensuring that independent control capabilities are maintained while adding the reliability of coordinated operation for successful surgical outcomes.
3Device complexity
If conventional imaging systems are used, then the system is simple, but concealed structures, physical contours, and dimensions within three-dimensional space remain unrecognizable
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses multiple endoscopes positioned at different locations to capture images from multiple perspectives. By combining images from different dimensional viewpoints, the system reconstructs three-dimensional information about concealed structures, physical contours, and dimensions that would be unrecognizable from a single two-dimensional view.
Solution Approach 2:
The controller acts as an intermediary that receives images from multiple endoscopes, processes them to determine instrument locations, and synthesizes the information to reveal concealed structures. This intermediary processing transforms raw images into meaningful spatial information about hidden anatomical features.
4Measurement precision
If imaging systems are positioned to view one instrument, then that instrument is visible, but other instruments operating from different spaces fall outside the field of view
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the imaging function by using multiple separate endoscopes, each positioned to view a specific instrument or surgical site from an optimal angle. Rather than one imaging system trying to view everything, multiple specialized imaging systems work together, with the controller integrating their data to provide comprehensive multi-instrument visualization.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems, devices, and methods for controlling cooperative surgical instruments with variable surgical site access trajectories are provided. Various aspects of the present disclosure provide for coordinated operation of surgical instruments accessing a common surgical site from different approach and/or separate body cavities to achieve a common surgical purpose. For example, various methods, devices, and systems disclosed herein can enable the coordinated treatment of tissue by disparate minimally invasive surgical systems that approach the tissue from varying anatomical spaces and must operate differently, but in concert with one another, to effect a desired surgical treatment.