Surgical Instrument Sensor Logging for Tissue Engagement Feedback
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing endoscopic surgical instruments lack effective user feedback and recording mechanisms, making it challenging for clinicians to verify proper tissue engagement and instrument performance, leading to potential misuse and costly failure analysis.
Innovation Solution
A handheld surgical instrument equipped with sensors and a motorized drive system, including a memory device to record sensor outputs, providing user feedback on deployment force and position, and allowing for the recording of instrument conditions during use.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If endoscopic surgical instruments are used without recording mechanisms, then the device complexity is reduced, but the reliability of failure analysis deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by implementing sensors and memory devices that continuously record instrument conditions (temperature, pressure, operational parameters) before failures occur. This pre-recording of data enables reliable post-failure analysis without requiring complex real-time monitoring systems during the analysis phase itself.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses copying by creating digital replicas of the actual operational conditions through recorded data. The memory device stores copies of sensor outputs that represent the true state of the instrument during use, allowing manufacturers to analyze failures based on these data copies rather than requiring the physical instrument to be in its original state.
2Loss of information
If sensors and memory devices are added to surgical instruments, then information about instrument conditions is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies universality by designing a multi-functional integrated system where sensors monitor multiple parameters (temperature, pressure, operational state) and the memory device serves both as a data repository and a communication interface. This consolidation reduces the need for separate dedicated components for each function.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces mechanical analysis methods with electronic sensing and digital recording systems. Instead of physically examining and reconstructing failure conditions, the system uses electronic sensors to capture data and memory devices to store information, substituting mechanical inspection with electronic information storage and retrieval.
3Loss of time
If manual failure analysis is performed without recorded data, then the manufacturing cost is reduced, but the time required for analysis increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by having the instrument automatically record operational data during normal use, so that when a failure occurs, the data is already captured and stored. This eliminates the time-consuming process of manually reconstructing operational conditions after a failure, as the information is pre-recorded in the memory device.
Data Source
AI summary
The surgical instrument (10) has an end effector (12) and a trigger (18,20) in communication with the end effector. The surgical instrument also has a first sensor (110,130,142,2002,2004,2006,2008,2010) and an externally accessible memory device (2001) in communication with the first sensor. The first sensor has an output that represents a first condition of either the trigger or the end effector. The memory device is configured to record the output of the first sensor. In various embodiments, memory device may include an output port (2020) and/or a removable storage medium (2021).