Endoscope Tooltip Camera With Deployable Nitinol Tube
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current endoscopic tools face challenges in providing clear visual feedback during minimally invasive surgeries due to limited optics and obstructed fields of view, especially in single-port laparoscopic procedures, where surgeons struggle to maintain adequate visualization of surgical instruments and their surroundings.
Innovation Solution
A deployable and flexible tooltip camera integrated within an endoscopic tool, featuring a curved tube made from shape memory alloy that can rotate and translate to provide varying viewing angles and a wide field of view, allowing the camera to be deployed from a distal tip and retracted into a linear shape for easy insertion through standard cannulas.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If a rigid endoscope with fixed optics is used, then the structure is simple and easy to manufacture, but the field of view is easily obstructed and cannot follow surgical instruments in confined spaces
Solution Approach 1:
The endoscope employs a dynamic articulated mechanism with multiple segments that can rotate and articulate independently, allowing the scope to dynamically adjust its field of view to follow surgical instruments through confined spaces, transforming a static rigid structure into an adaptable dynamic system
Solution Approach 2:
The endoscope is divided into multiple articulated segments that can move independently relative to each other, enabling the scope to navigate complex anatomical pathways and maintain visualization of surgical instruments without requiring a single complex rigid structure
2Reliability
If multiple trocar access ports are created for separate endoscope and instrument insertion, then adequate visualization can be achieved, but the number of incisions increases morbidity and cosmesis
Solution Approach 1:
The endoscope and surgical instruments are combined to share a single common working channel, eliminating the need for separate trocar ports for each device. This merging approach maintains adequate visualization quality while reducing the number of incisions, thereby lowering morbidity and improving cosmesis
3Ease of manufacture
If the endoscope optics are inserted separately from surgical instruments, then each can be optimized independently, but coordination and manipulation become exceedingly difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The endoscope optics and surgical instruments are merged into a single integrated assembly that moves together as one unit through the working channel. This integration eliminates the coordination difficulty of manipulating separate devices while maintaining the ability to optimize the overall system design
4Object-affected harmful factors
If a single small port is used for single port laparoscopic surgery, then morbidity and cosmesis are improved, but the field of view is heavily obstructed and visualization is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The endoscope utilizes a dynamic articulated mechanism that can actively adjust its orientation and position within the single port, allowing it to dynamically overcome obstructions and maintain an unobstructed field of view despite the confined single-port access
Solution Approach 2:
The endoscope employs multi-axis articulation that adds rotational and articulation dimensions to the linear insertion path, enabling the scope to navigate around obstructions and achieve visualization angles that would be impossible with a simple straight insertion through a single port
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
The tooltip camera enhances visualization by offering adjustable and expansive viewing angles, reducing the need for multiple ports and improving surgical precision by providing clear images of surgical instruments and their surroundings, even in confined spaces.
Implementation Method 1
an image capture device comprising: a tube fabricated from a shape memory alloy pre-deformed in a substantially curved shape but retaining a substantially linear shape within the shaft
Data Source
AI summary
A deployable and flexible tooltip camera is provided for integration within a shaft of an endoscopic tool. The tooltip camera includes a camera mounted to a distal tip of a curved tube which is capable of rotational and translational movement to provide a wide field of view of a tooltip of the endoscopic tool during an endoscopic procedure. The tube retains its curved shape when in use to provide a unique perspective view of the tooltip, but can then be withdrawn into a shaft of the endoscopic tool such that the entire tooltip camera and tube are retained within the shaft of the endoscopic tool and can pass through a cannula. The curved tube may be formed of a super-elastic memory alloy like Nitinol and pre-shaped into an s-curve using a two-step heat treatment process to attain the necessary curvature, and further laser-patterned with holes to attain the necessary flexibility.