Miniaturised ultrasonic scalpel for robotic surgical procedures

Nami Surgical是格拉斯哥大学的一个分支。来自EPSRC Ultrasurge（超声外科手术）项目团队（[www.gla.ac.uk/research/ultrasurge/][0]）的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外科手术设备中复杂问题的方法。超声手术刀是一种手持式手术设备，可以同时切割和烧灼。这些器械是80%以上微创手术中使用的金标准能量器械。来自外科医生的反馈是，他们强烈喜欢超声波手术刀，而不是传统的切割工具。与此同时，手术机器人设备正在全球医疗系统中迅速扩散，自1999年以来，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%的美国医院将拥有至少一台手术机器人，而2016年约为25%，但由于现有超声手术刀的技术特点和物理限制，它们无法与手术机器人一起使用。现有的手术刀具有对于腹腔镜端口来说太大的换能器，因此需要长的末端执行器波导来将能量传递到手术部位。这些波导不能弯曲，在远端缺乏机动性，并产生热量（> 190 C），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嵌入式超声刀。这项正在申请专利的技术允许将超声手术刀直接安装为带手腕的机器人手臂的末端执行器，从而满足真实的临床和市场需求。[0]：https://www.gla.ac.uk/research/az/ultrasurge/网站

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/