Effect of sensory substitution on suture-manipulation forces for robotic surgical systems

Abstract

Sensory substitution, in the form of visual feedback, auditory feedback, or both, confers quantifiable advantages in applied force accuracy and consistency during the performance of a simple surgical task.

Prototypic Force Feedback Instrument for Minimally Invasive Robotic Surgery

“…Considering e. g. knot tying, it is impossible in this way to guarantee a reliable www.intechopen.com tightness of knots (Müller, 2004) because tension of a thread cannot be estimated only by inspecting it visually. Methods of resolution for this problem have been presented by Akinbiyi et al (Kitagawa et al, 2004;Akinbiyi et al, 2006) The still limited number of applications makes it difficult for small and mid-size clinics to have a fast and easy amortization of the considerable purchase and maintenance cost. Setup time of the system and intraoperative instrument changes are still cumbersome which extends the over all operation time even beyond conventional MIS.…”

The Must-Have in Robotic Heart Surgery: Haptic Feedback

“…This requires the surgeon to rely on visual feedback in tasks such as suturing. Especially for fine suture material approaches began in research groups to analyse haptic feedback (Okamura, 2004;Kitagawa et al, 2005), but the way of the evaluating setup is not fulfilling the special medical interest for heart surgeons. The basic consideration in our work is to offer the heart surgeon an accessory sensory channel in addition to the visual channel not only to avoid breakage of surgical suture material and tissue, but also to decrease visual fatigue.…”

A selected review and personal experience with robotic prostatectomy: implications for adoption of this new technology in the United Kingdom

“…At present, bone contact appears to be the only tactile sensation noticeable although with experience it is possible to partially compensate by the use of visual clues of tissue compressibility or elasticity, this is clearly less than ideal. Kitagawa et al 41 have tried to substitute direct haptic feedback with visual and auditory cues to alert the surgeon during surgical knot tying. Certainly systems designed for the future will need to incorporate this factor.…”