PFI-TT: A Smart Bipolar Surgical Device for Electrosurgery

这一创新-技术转化伙伴关系(PFI-TT)项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是通过在手术工具中引入传感、检测、监测和人工智能来促进手术技术，以降低风险、改善患者结局并为美国制造业创造经济机会。具体地说，拟议的项目将开发一种用于电外科的智能外科设备，该设备广泛用于许多主要外科手术中的止血。尽管电外科技术具有手术速度快、恢复时间短、适合微创手术等优点，但仍面临着组织粘连、烧焦、手术烟雾生成、外周热损伤以及可能导致危及生命的再出血的密封失效等重大挑战。拟议的智能电外科技术将有助于消除再出血，确保健康的工作环境，并每年为医院节省数亿美元。拟议的项目将促进学术研究人员、设备设计师、制造商、商业化专家和最终用户之间的伙伴关系。它将为不同背景的学生提供现实世界的培训机会，包括技术和创业机会，并促进企业创业以创造就业机会。拟议的项目将开发一种创新的声学传感和监测方法，以预测可靠的血管密封件的形成，为电外科手术提供质量保证。现有的减轻与电外科手术相关的风险的方法包括在电极上涂抹不粘涂层、在电钳上添加冷却通道、以及基于组织阻抗的变化自动终止电力。然而，由于组织属性的可变性，这些方法要么繁琐，要么不可靠。本项目提出的创新的声学传感技术捕捉到了电外科过程的基本物理现象，不受组织变异性的影响。这项拟议的研究将发展对组织加热和声音信号之间关系的科学理解，使用机器学习来预测热影响区(HAZ)的大小，并开发一种用于演示的智能电外科设备。这项拟议的研究还将探索开发一种基于石墨烯的声传感器与智能手术设备集成的可行性，以便显著提高信号质量。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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 Partnerships for Innovation - Technology Translation (PFI-TT) project is to advance surgical technology by introducing sensing, detection, monitoring, and artificial intelligence in surgical tools to reduce risk, improve patient outcome, and create economic opportunities for the U.S. manufacturing industry. Specifically, the proposed project will develop a smart surgical device for electrosurgery that is a widely used for hemostasis in many major surgical procedures. Despite its advantages for fast operation, shorter recovery time, and suitability for minimal invasive operations, the electrosurgery technology suffers from major challenges such as tissue sticking, charring, surgical smoke generation, peripheral thermal damage, and seal failure that could lead to life-threatening rebleeding. The proposed smart electrosurgical technology will help eliminate rebleeding, ensure a healthy working environment, and save hospitals hundreds of millions of dollars annually. The proposed project will facilitate partnership among academic researchers, device designers, manufacturers, commercialization experts, and end users. It will provide real-world training opportunities, both technical and entrepreneurial, to students of diverse backgrounds and promote the startup of companies for job creation. The proposed project will develop an innovative acoustic sensing and monitoring method to predict the formation of reliable blood vessel seals, providing quality assurance in electrosurgical procedures. Existing methods to mitigate the risk associated with electrosurgeries include applying non-sticking coating to the electrodes, adding cooling channels to the electrical forceps, and automatically terminating the electrical power based on the tissue impedance change. However, these methods are either cumbersome or unreliable due to the variability of tissue properties. The innovative acoustic sensing technology proposed in this project captures the fundamental physical phenomenon of the electrosurgical process and is not affected by the tissue variability. The proposed research will develop scientific understanding of the relationship between tissue heating and the acoustic signal, use machine learning to predict the size of the heat affected zone (HAZ), and develop a smart electrosurgical device for demonstration. The proposed research will also explore the feasibility of developing a graphene-based acoustic sensor to be integrated with the smart surgical device such that the signal quality can be significantly enhanced.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.