A team of researchers has developed a straightforward yet effective technique for on-demand tactile sensing in keyhole surgery, overcoming a significant barrier that prevents surgeons from being able to “feel” tissues while performing an operation.
They were able to assess the performance of their unique tool, which combines laparoscopic graspers with store-bought sensors.
Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi surgeons and the Advanced Microfluidics and Microdevices Laboratory (AMMLab) at NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) worked together (CCAD).
The group was led by Mohammad Qasaimeh, an associate professor of mechanical engineering and bioengineering at NYUAD.
While the current prototype just serves as a proof-of-concept, Qasaimeh explained that future research will concentrate on developing a method that could mechanically detect even minute changes in tissue rigidity and texture.
Along with our colleagues at the CCAD, we also plan to conduct research using samples that more closely resemble better human organs.
In the IEEE Journal of Translational Engineering in Health and Medicine, the findings were published.
Through a Keyhole Surgery
Minimally invasive surgery (MIS), sometimes referred to as keyhole surgery, has a number of benefits.
By employing specialized surgical instruments with thin, long tube-like shafts coupled with endoscopes and surgical graspers, needles, and shears, MIS provides visual and surgical access to target organs through small incisions.
Compared to open surgery, it requires less time to recover from and generally leaves fewer scars.
However, it only offers a small field of vision to surgeons, and they are unable to feel relative changes in tissue stiffness as they do surgery.
MIS procedures are thus associated with the problem of a surgeon’s “lost sense of touch.”
Automated Forceps
The researchers describe how they created their Smart Laparoscopic Forceps by integrating a group of readily available commercial sensors into common laparoscopic apparatus (SLF).
The gadget measures the grasping force and angle of the grabbed tissue in real-time by using a force sensor on the gripping jaw and an angle sensor at the handle.
The data is analyzed by a microcontroller, and the gripping feedback is shown on a monitor.
This smart equipment gives the surgeon a relative stiffness index of the tissue as well as the amount of applied force to help in decision-making throughout the procedure based on the deformation characteristics recorded by the two sensors.
