Image courtesy R. v.d. Pol, AMC-Amsterdam
The technology is a mechanism that translates the surgeon’s hand movements in all degrees of freedom to the same movements of the tip of an instrument for minimally invasive surgery, also known as keyhole surgery. The new system combines keyhole surgery’s benefits for the patient (less trauma, scars and infections) with those of open surgery for the surgeon (maximal flexibility, ergonomics and intuitive manipulation).
Keyhole surgery is much less stressful for the patient and gives a better cosmetic result than “open” surgery. But is also difficult for the surgeon to perform, as the surgeon has to operate via a 2D image on a monitor, which disrupts hand–eye coordination. Moreover, the video camera has to be operated by an assistant and the work must be done using long and rigid instruments that provide little freedom of movement.
The existing robot systems that have been developed to solve the aforementioned problems are complex, expensive and do not provide the required (force) feedback to the surgeon, said Jaspers.
The aim of Jaspers’ research was to develop simple mechanical alternatives to these complex robotic systems. Jaspers, who was rewarded a doctorate at the department of mechanical engineering of Delft University of Technology in March, has developed two instruments in collaboration with surgeons.
The first instrument is a camera and instrument holder. Using this mechanical arm the surgeons can operate the camera themselves with one hand, thus allowing them to conduct operations by themselves without a camera assistant.
The second instrument is a mechanical manipulator for operating the various instruments used in keyhole surgery. Two mechanical arms, provided with artificial “wrist joints” for extra freedom of movement, transmit the surgeon’s hand movements exactly onto the instruments. This is achieved by using rods, cables and parallelogram constructions.
This mechanical manipulator serves a similar function to surgical robot systems, but in a simpler and cheaper manner, Jaspers said.
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