Deployable Tubular Mechanisms Integrated with Magnetic Anchoring and Guidance System

Deployable mechanism has received more attention in the medical field due to its simple structure, dexterity, and flexibility. Meanwhile, the advantages of the Magnetic Anchoring and Guidance System (MAGS) are further highlighted by the fact that the operators can remotely control the corresponding active and passive magnetic parts in vivo. Additionally, MAGS allows the untethered manipulation of intracorporeal devices. However, the conventional instruments in MAGS are normally rigid, compact, and less flexible. Therefore, to solve this problem, four novel deployable tubular mechanisms, Design 1 (Omega-shape mechanism), Design 2 (Fulcrum-shape mechanism), Design 3 (Archway-shape mechanism), and Design 4 (Scissor-shape mechanism) in this paper, are proposed integrated with MAGS to realize the laser steering capability. Firstly, this paper introduces the motion mechanism of the four designs and analyzes the motion characterization of each structure through simulation studies. Further, the prototypes of four designs are fabricated using tubular structures with embedded magnets. The actuation success rate, the workspace characterization, the force generation and the load capability of four mechanisms are tested and analyzed based on experiments. Then, the demonstration of direct laser steering via macro setup shows that the four mechanisms can realize the laser steering capability within the error of 0.6 cm. Finally, the feasibility of indirect laser steering via a macro-mini setup is proven. Therefore, such exploration demonstrates that the application of the deployable tubular mechanisms integrated with MAGS towards in vivo treatment is promising.

Innovative surgical endoscopes in video-assisted thoracic surgery

In the past three decades, rod lens endoscopes had facilitated the development and wide spread applications of video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS). With the rise of uniportal VATS in recent years, innovations in surgical instruments should once again complement the advancement in surgical technique. While articulated flexible endoscopes have expand the field of view, and can alter viewing direction with minimal maneuvers, they still suffer from problems like trocar crowding and interference with other instruments. Magnetic anchored endoscopes, on the other hand, may provide unique benefits to VATS by replacing the endoscope rigid rod body with magnetic linkage, thus overcoming the challenge of port crowding in single incision surgery. Most magnetic anchored endoscopes reported in literature are not designed for thoracic surgeries. Many of these designs do not allow tilting of endoscopic view, rely on micromotors for actuation, or are ergonomically unfit to be operated within the spatial constraints seen in VATS application. Considering these limitations, we have designed two novel magnetic anchored and steered endoscopes targeted for uniportal VATS. Both designs could be wirelessly actuated by magnetic interaction. One has a silicone rubber formed soft body for compactness, lightweight and safety, while another is a 40 mm long capsule optimized for VATS spatial constraints.

Magnetic Surgical Instruments for Robotic Abdominal Surgery

This review looks at the implementation of magnetic-based approaches in surgical instruments for abdominal surgeries. As abdominal surgical techniques advance toward minimizing surgical trauma, surgical instruments are enhanced to support such an objective through the exploration of magnetic-based systems. With this design approach, surgical devices are given the capabilities to be fully inserted intraabdominally to achieve access to all abdominal quadrants, without the conventional rigid link connection with the external unit. The variety of intraabdominal surgical devices are anchored, guided, and actuated by external units, with power and torque transmitted across the abdominal wall through magnetic linkage. This addresses many constraints encountered by conventional laparoscopic tools, such as loss of triangulation, fulcrum effect, and loss/lack of dexterity for surgical tasks. Design requirements of clinical considerations to aid the successful development of magnetic surgical instruments, are also discussed.

Magnetically driven medical devices: a review

A widely accepted definition of a medical device is an instrument or apparatus that is used to diagnose, prevent or treat disease. Medical devices take a broad range of forms and utilize various methods to operate, such as physical, mechanical or thermal. Of particular interest in this paper are the medical devices that utilize magnetic field sources to operate. The exploitation of magnetic fields to operate or drive medical devices has become increasingly popular due to interesting characteristics of magnetic fields that are not offered by other phenomena, such as mechanical contact, hydrodynamics and thermodynamics. Today, there is a wide range of magnetically driven medical devices purposed for different anatomical regions of the body. A review of these devices is presented and organized into two groups: permanent magnetically driven devices and electromagnetically driven devices. Within each category, the discussion will be further segregated into anatomical regions (e.g., gastrointestinal, ocular, abdominal, thoracic, etc.).