Surgical Tool Spring Mechanism Tactile Feedback
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Solution Overview
Problem
Minimally invasive surgical techniques often result in reduced tactile and visual feedback for surgeons due to the use of instruments inserted through ports and observed with a camera, making tissue dissection difficult and risky, especially when substantial forces are applied.
Innovation Solution
A surgical tool with a spring mechanism that provides tactile feedback and a displacement guide for visual feedback, allowing surgeons to feel tissue resistance and mechanical properties through compression and motion, while maintaining access through ports and facilitating fluid exchange.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If minimally invasive surgical techniques are used with instruments inserted through ports and observed with a camera, then patient trauma is reduced and recovery is accelerated, but tactile feedback and visual knowledge of tissue-blade interaction is lost
Solution Approach 1:
A spring mechanism is introduced as an intermediary element between the surgeon's hand and the surgical blade. The spring transmits tactile information about tissue resistance to the surgeon's hand, serving as a mediator that carries information through the minimally invasive instrument shaft without requiring direct visual observation or compromising patient benefits
Solution Approach 2:
The spring mechanism provides real-time tactile feedback to the surgeon about tissue properties and blade-tissue interaction forces. As the blade encounters different tissue densities and resistances, the spring compresses or extends accordingly, giving the surgeon haptic information about what the blade is experiencing at the distal end of the instrument
2Adaptability or versatility
If remote hand positioning is required due to port insertion geometry, then minimally invasive access is achieved, but direct knowledge of blade-tissue interaction is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The spring acts as a mechanical intermediary that connects the remote hand position to the distal blade, transmitting force and tactile information through the instrument shaft. This allows the surgeon to maintain comfortable remote positioning while still feeling tissue resistance through the spring mechanism
Solution Approach 2:
The spring mechanism introduces dynamic compliance to the instrument system, allowing the blade to move independently in response to tissue forces while the surgeon maintains control from the handpiece. This dynamic coupling enables both remote operation and tactile feedback
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enhances haptic properties, improving tissue dissection by providing tactile and visual cues about tissue interaction, reducing the risk of errors and improving precision during minimally invasive surgeries.
Implementation Method 1
Intermediate of the distal tool and the handgrip is a spring 14. The spring is mounted so that forces supplied by the physician act on the spring to compress it.
Implementation Method 2
The motion associated with the compression of the spring is both observed and felt by the physician and these attribute restore some of the tactile sensations lost in the transition to modern forms of surgery.
Data Source
AI summary
A surgical tool for use through laproscopic ports having improved haptic and tactile feedback.