Miniaturised ultrasonic scalpel for robotic surgical procedures

Nami Surgical是从格拉斯哥大学分拆出来的。EPSRC Ultrasurge（超声手术）项目团队（[www.gla.ac.uk/research/ultrasurge/][0]]）医疗和工业超声中心（C-MIU）的生物医学工程师发明了一种解决超声手术设备中复杂问题的方法。超声波手术刀是一种手持手术设备，可以同时进行切割和灼烧。这些设备是黄金标准的能量仪器，用于80%的微创手术。来自外科医生的反馈是，与传统切割工具相比，他们更喜欢超声波手术刀。与此同时，手术机器人设备正在全球医疗保健系统中迅速普及，自1999年以来，已有数十家公司成立，开发和制造这些产品。据预测，到2025年，接近100%的美国医院将至少拥有一个手术机器人，而2016年这一比例约为25%。然而，由于现有超声手术刀的技术特点和物理限制，它们不能与手术机器人一起使用。现有的手术刀的换能器对于腹腔镜来说太大了，因此需要很长的末端波导来将能量传递到手术部位。这些波导不能弯曲，在远端缺乏可操作性，并且会产生热量（190摄氏度），损害组织和烟雾，降低能见度，是一种生物危害。我们的解决方案是一种与机器人手术兼容的小型化超声手术刀。这项正在申请专利的技术允许超声波手术刀直接安装在腕式机械臂的末端执行器上，从而解决了真正的临床和市场需求。[0]: https://www.gla.ac.uk/research/az/ultrasurge/

Nami Surgical is a spin-out from the University of Glasgow. Biomedical engineers from the Centre for Medical and Industrial Ultrasonics (C-MIU) in the EPSRC Ultrasurge (Surgery enabled by Ultrasonics) Programme team ([www.gla.ac.uk/research/ultrasurge/][0]) have invented a solution to a complex problem in ultrasonic surgical devices.Ultrasonic scalpels are handheld surgical devices that simultaneously cut and cauterise. These devices are the gold standard energy instrument used in \>80% of minimally invasive surgeries. Feedback from surgeons is that they strongly prefer ultrasonic scalpels over conventional cutting tools.In parallel, surgical robotic devices are rapidly diffusing throughout the global healthcare system, with dozens of firms formed since 1999 to develop and manufacture these products. It is forecast that by 2025, close to 100% of US hospitals will have at least one surgical robot, up from about 25% in 2016\.However, due to the technical characteristics and physical limitations of existing ultrasonic scalpels they cannot be used with surgical robots. Existing scalpels have transducers that are too large for laparoscopic ports and thus require long end effector waveguides to transfer energy to the surgical site. These waveguides cannot be bent, lack manoeuvrability at the distal end, and generate heat (\>190C) that damages tissue and smoke that reduces visibility and is a biohazard.Our solution is a miniaturised ultrasonic scalpel that is compatible with robotic surgery. This patent-pending technology allows the ultrasonic scalpel to be mounted directly as the end effector of a wristed robotic arm so addressing a real clinical and market need.[0]: https://www.gla.ac.uk/research/az/ultrasurge/