I-Corps: On-line Monitoring of a Tissue Welding Process

I-Corps：组织焊接过程的在线监控

• 批准号: 1904256
• 负责人: Wei Li
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: University of Texas at Austin
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-12-01 至 2019-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1904256&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Corps; line; Monitoring; Tissue; Welding

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is that the proposed technology provides a much-needed solution to the current problems in electrosurgery that is widely used in many medical specialties such as neurological surgery. Electrosurgery is fast and requires short post-surgery recovery time; however, major problems such as collateral nerve damage and seal failure still exist, sometimes with fatal consequences. The proposed technology helps eliminate those problems by monitoring the electrosurgical process with an acoustic signal. It will enable an assistive device for surgeons to make precise decisions that will ensure the surgical quality. It will reduce surgeon fatigue, time in the operating room, and healthcare cost, while improving the overall patient experience. This project allows extensive customer discovery and market analysis, from which commercial products will be developed to satisfy the needs of patients, surgeons, and hospitals. With the projected $5.17B global market for electrosurgical equipment by 2021, the proposed technology will have a significant commercial potential. The monitoring methodology applied to this project brings advances to the field of precision surgery with engineering principles. This I-Corps project focuses on developing a real-time acoustic signal monitoring system for quality assurance of the electrosurgical process. First, sound signals captured during the surgery is correlated to the water boiling and protein denaturing process in heated tissue. Then, a decision-making algorithm is developed based on the signal strength and number of bubble bursting events. Previous research on the electrosurgical process has provided fundamental understanding and suggested that the acoustic monitoring method is dramatically better than existing ones. In the previous study, experiments was conducted with ex-vivo porcine tissue and the feasibility of the proposed technology using a low-profile sensor was demonstrated. This I-Corps award will provide opportunities to conduct customer interviews for technology refinement. A set of functional requirements for product development will be identified to support commercialization of the proposed technology.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该I-Corps项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力在于，所提出的技术为广泛用于许多医学专业（如神经外科）的电外科当前问题提供了急需的解决方案。电外科手术速度快，需要较短的术后恢复时间;然而，仍然存在诸如侧支神经损伤和密封失败等主要问题，有时会造成致命后果。所提出的技术通过用声学信号监测电外科手术过程来帮助消除这些问题。它将为外科医生提供一种辅助设备，使其能够做出精确的决定，以确保手术质量。它将减少外科医生的疲劳，手术室的时间和医疗保健成本，同时改善整体患者体验。该项目允许广泛的客户发现和市场分析，从中开发商业产品，以满足患者，外科医生和医院的需求。预计到2021年，全球电外科设备市场将达到51.7亿美元，因此，该技术将具有巨大的商业潜力。应用于该项目的监测方法为具有工程原理的精密手术领域带来了进步。该I-Corps项目的重点是开发用于电外科手术过程质量保证的实时声学信号监测系统。首先，在手术期间捕获的声音信号与加热组织中的水沸腾和蛋白质变性过程相关。在此基础上，提出了一种基于信号强度和气泡破裂次数的决策算法。先前对电外科手术过程的研究提供了基本的理解，并表明声学监测方法明显优于现有方法。在先前的研究中，用离体猪组织进行了实验，并证明了使用低轮廓传感器的拟议技术的可行性。这个I-Corps奖将提供机会进行客户访谈，以改进技术。将确定产品开发的一系列功能要求，以支持拟议技术的商业化。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。