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Going under a tiny knife
ASEE Prism, Sep 2002
For patients, the development of keyhole surgery has made going under the knife much less of a risk. The technique, laparoscopy (or endoscopy), requires only small incisions into which a miniature video camera and long, slender tools are inserted. Because there is less tissue damage, minimally invasive surgery requires less recovery time and reduces postoperative pain. But its tiny tools can be cumbersome to use. Not only do they limit dexterity, but they're single-function instruments. That means surgeons are constantly switching tools during a procedure. Penn State engineers have developed a software program that can be used to design multi-task surgical tools that grasp, cut, and pivot around obstructions. The initial prototype has stainless steel jaws with scissor-like blades about the size of a grain of rice that not only can slice but, at the flick of a switch on the handle, can also grasp. The blades can also be rotated to get around obstacles. Dexterity tests on animals have been underway for more than a year.
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Team leader Mary Frecker, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering, says the software can be used to design any number of other multi-task tools. Her team also is working on a compliant version that will let the surgeon bend the blades to make them even more maneuverable. The tool tip for the compliant version is also in prototype form, Frecker reports, and work is now focusing on the handle.
During dexterity tests at the Hershey Medical Center, the team hopes to gain early reviews from surgeons. Frecker says commercialization is a few years away. "We are currently working on developing relationships with industry. A possible scenario is that they would take over a portion of the development and take the designs into mass production," she says. That would take only about six months, but first there would have to be a one- to two-year U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval process. If that turns out to be a snip, then keyhole surgery could soon become an even less risky procedure.
Copyright American Society for Engineering Education Sep 2002
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