I-Corps: A Minimally Invasive Palpation Device for Intraoperative Tumor Detection

I-Corps项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是术中机器人触诊设备的开发，可以显著改善癌症治疗的结果。我们的设备打算解决的一个主要问题是，亚厘米大小的肿瘤难以通过术前成像和微创术中过程中识别。我们的机器人触诊设备可以部署到患者体内，并在病理区域快速生成具有高空间分辨率的组织刚度图。无论肿瘤大小如何，该技术都可以精确、及时地检测肿瘤，从而显著提高肿瘤切除手术的效果。除术中肿瘤检测外，该技术具有广泛的潜在应用前景。它具有识别病变组织的能力，包括物理特征发生改变的纤维化组织。总之，这项尖端技术具有无与伦比的识别病变组织的能力，提供宝贵的定量信息，使临床医生能够自信地做出有关最有效治疗策略的数据驱动决策。这个I-Corps项目是基于机器人触诊设备的开发，该设备可以帮助外科医生在微创机器人辅助癌症治疗手术中检测肿瘤。在开胸手术中，外科医生经常依靠手工触诊来检测在x光、CT或MRI等成像技术上可能看不到的肿瘤，特别是小于1cm的肿瘤。然而，涉及机器人辅助手术的一个持续的技术挑战是外科医生在手术过程中无法触摸和感觉组织。由于外科医生失去了触觉，小肿瘤可能无法被发现，导致肿瘤切除不完全，从而导致癌症进展、复发和转移。这项创新是一种“机器人手指”，可以在手术期间部署到患者体内，并调查病理组织区域，以生成与必须通过手术切除的肿瘤组织存在相关的组织刚度图。这项创新将为外科医生提供精确定位所有肿瘤的能力，大大提高了准确性和分辨率，最终改善了患者的治疗效果，减少了癌症的复发和转移。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，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。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of intraoperative robotic palpation device that can significantly improve the outcome of cancer treatment. A major problem that our device intends to solve is that tumors with sub-centimeter in their size are difficult to identify via preoperative imaging and during minimally invasive intraoperative procedures. Our robotic palpation device can be deployed into the patient’s body and quickly generate a tissue stiffness map at the pathologic region with a high spatial resolution. By enabling precise and prompt detection of tumors, regardless of their size, this technology can significantly enhance the outcomes of tumor resection surgery. This technology has a wide range of potential applications beyond intraoperative tumor detection. It has the capability to identify diseased tissues, including fibrotic tissues, whose physical characteristics have undergone alterations. Altogether, this cutting-edge technology has the unparalleled ability to identify diseased tissues, providing invaluable quantitative information to empower clinicians to confidently make data-driven decisions about the most effective treatment strategies. This I-Corps project is based on the development of a robotic palpation device that can help surgeons to detect tumors during minimally invasive robot-assisted cancer treatment surgery. In open chest surgery, surgeons frequently rely on manual palpation to detect tumors that may not be visible on imaging techniques, such as X-ray, CT, or MRI, especially those small than 1 cm. However, a persistent technical challenge involving the robot-assisted surgery is the surgeon’s inability to touch and feel the tissues during the surgery. As a result of the surgeon’s loss of tactile sensation, small tumors can remain undetected, leading to incomplete tumor removal that can cause cancer progression, recurrence, and metastasis. This innovation is a “robotic finger” that can be deployed into the patient’s body during surgery and survey the pathologic tissue areas to generate a tissue stiffness map that is correlated to the presence of tumorous tissues that must be removed surgically. This innovation will offer surgeons the ability to pinpoint all tumors with substantially improved accuracy and resolution, ultimately leading to improved patient outcomes and a reduction in cancer recurrence and metastasis.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.