Soft devices in neurological surgery

Abstract

Translation of soft devices from academia to commercialization remains limited despite the substantial growth of the field over the past decade. To drive the next stage of innovation, it is crucial to identify applications that can be uniquely addressed by soft devices. Neurological surgery presents numerous high-impact opportunities for harnessing the potential of soft devices in medical applications.Neural tissue is delicate and prone to damage when interfaced or manipulated with devices made of stiff, unyielding materials. 1 Soft medical devices have a low mechanical mismatch with biological tissues but can still be durable. They may therefore offer unique solutions to a range of clinical problems that cannot be fully addressed using "hard" devices. New classes of soft devices for neurosurgery can have a major impact in three areas in particular: minimally invasive surgery, targeted drug delivery and implantable neural electrodes. Although there are currently no regulated soft neurosurgical devices used clinically, this young field has already produced a wide range of technologies at various technology readiness levels (TRLs), including early laboratory prototypes (TRL 1-3) and devices nearing clinical use (TRL 5+). Some of these technologies are highlighted in Figure 1.[H1] Soft Surgical Tools Endoscopic cranial surgery uses rigid, straight endoscopes, which require a straight path to the area of interest. Soft endoscopic actuators can facilitate the development of endoscopes 3 and tissue retractors 4 that eliminate the requirement of line-of-sight style operation.Many neurological diseases, such as brain tumors, are located within the small, deep openings in the subarachnoid space called cisterns. Traditional endoscopic approaches often

Viscoelastic dynamics of a soft strip subject to a large deformation

“…[6][7][8] With recent scientific advances in the fields of gels and polymers, [9][10][11] engineers have achieved significant progress in the manufacturing of versatile, biocompatible and durable soft structures. This has led to the development of soft robots, [12][13][14][15] medical devices, [16][17][18] and inflatable structures, [19][20][21] among others.…”