Mems Tactile Sensors for Surgical Instruments
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MEMS Tactile Sensors for Surgical Instruments Keith J. Rebello1, Kyle S. Lebouitz, and Michele Migliuolo Verimetra, Inc., 2403 Sidney Street, Suite 280 Pittsburgh, PA 15203, U.S.A. 1
Now with: Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab, 11100 Johns Hopkins Road, MS: 2-217, Laurel, MD 20723, U.S.A. ABSTRACT The development of sophisticated endoscopic tools and the recent introduction of robotics are expanding the applications of minimally invasive surgery. The lack of tactile feedback in the currently available endoscopic and robotic telemanipulation systems however represents a significant limitation. A need has arisen for the development of surgical instruments having integrated sensors. Current efforts to integrate sensors into or onto surgical tools has focused on fabrication of sensors on silicon, polyimide, or some other substrate and then attaching the sensors to a tool by hand or machine with epoxy, tape, or some other glue layer. Attaching the sensor in this manner has certain deficiencies. In particular, this method of attaching sensors to a surgical tool limits the sensors size, increases its thickness, and further constrains where the sensor can be placed. A method of fabricating tactile sensors on surgical instruments that addresses these deficiencies is discussed. INTRODUCTION In the past decade there has been a revolution in how surgeries are performed. Advances in medical technology have enabled many procedures, which were previously performed using open surgery techniques to be done as minimally invasive procedures. By reducing the invasiveness of these surgical procedures, many benefits can be realized for both the patient and surgeon. Less trauma to the patient results in faster recovery times, less complications, improved survival rates, and more pleasing cosmetic results. Hospital stays are shortened which results in substantial cost savings. Due to these benefits, 40% of current surgical procedures are performed in a minimally invasive manner [1] and are growing rapidly. Forecasts indicate that 80% will be performed minimally invasively in the next 15 years [2]. During a minimally invasive procedure the surgeon no longer has direct contact with the surgical site. The surgical area is seen through an endoscopic camera displayed on a video monitor. Tissue is manipulated inside the body by a set of instruments mounted on long poles, which are inserted through 5-10 mm ports. The surgeon faces many challenges while using these types technology [3,4], with the largest being the loss of the sense of touch. There is no tactile feedback in the instruments, so the surgeon has no sense of how hard he is pulling, cutting, twisting, suturing, etc. This causes a number of adjustments to be made by the surgeon, which requires significant retraining on how to do the procedures in a minimally invasive manner. The
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