Development of a broad-view camera system for minimally invasive surgery

Abstract

A big advantage of minimally invasive surgery is the quick recovery afforded by the minimal physical injury sustained by patients. However, the operative field provided by the endoscope camera is rather narrow. This paper discusses a new broad-view camera system, which is capable of providing a wider view of the internal organs during minimally invasive surgery. This system consists of a camera unit for capturing the image and a monitor for displaying the captured image. With the use of this system, the invasiveness of the procedure does not increase, and the other specifications of current minimally invasive surgery are maintained. Furthermore, it can function as a second camera (in addition to the one attached to the endoscope) and can help assess the overall state of the target area. In this paper, we present this a newly developed camera system, which is intended for use along with the proposed system. The camera system is composed of a miniature color CMOS camera, an indwelling needle, and an extra-thin connector. The specific design of the camera unit and the method for positioning it are shown here. The performance of this camera system has been confirmed through basic and laparoscopic surgery on animals.

Magnetically Activated Stereoscopic Vision System for Laparoendoscopic Single-Site Surgery

“…Again compared to standard laparoscopes, the proposed system has a robotized rotational DOF around its long axis, thus allowing the image to be rotated. We restored this feature, which is lacking in all other robotic cameras [12]- [20], with a dedicated gear mechanism. Consequently, the roll active embedded motion always guarantees correct horizon adjustment with a span of ±90 • (see Fig.…”

“…Moreover, these systems provide additional camera angles that increase surgical visualization and improve orientation. The systems are positioned intra-abdominally and stabilized by suturing [11], by needle locking [12] or by external permanent magnets (EPMs) placed on the abdominal skin [13], in order to guarantee a large FOV and to leave the access port free for a different instrument. A number of magnetic anchoring and guidance system cameras are presented in [14]- [16].…”

Development on a magnetic anchoring robot system based on visual servo control for laparoendoscopic single‐site surgery

“…A typical solution to LESS involves a miniature robot placed entirely into the abdomen of a patient and an extracorporeal control subsystem for the robot system. In order to avoid interference with other surgical instruments through the single port, the miniature robots are positioned intra‐abdominally by suturing, needle locking or magnetic anchoring . Studies have been carried out to develop miniature robots placed fully or mostly into the body .…”

Development of master-slave magnetic anchoring vision robotic system for single-port laparoscopy (SPL) surgery

“…A typical surgical robot system for SPL surgery involves a miniature robot placed inside the abdomen of a patient and a control subsystem outside a patient. To avoid the collision with other surgical instruments inserted into the abdomen, some robots are positioned intra-abdominally by suturing (Hu et al , 2009), needle locking (Kawahara et al , 2010) or permanent magnets (Zeltser et al , 2007; Cadeddu et al , 2009; Swain et al , 2010; Lehman et al , 2008; Simi et al , 2013). These robots can perform some surgical tasks such as cutting, cauterizing, suctioning and suturing (Tortora et al , 2011; Niccolini et al , 2012; Petroni et al , 2013).…”