Minimally invasive robotic surgery (MIRS) entails total absence of haptic feedback due to the spatial separation of patient and surgeon. In conventional surgery, however, palpation to detect superficial arteries by a slight pulsation is an important, commonly applied, and security-relevant procedure. Therefore, a new approach is presented, focusing on the intra-operative detection of arteries hidden under covering tissue. The objective is to minimize the risk of an accidental dissection of sub-surficial vessels and, thereby, unintentional arterial bleeding. The system is intended to expand the existing DLR MIRS scenario providing kinesthetic feedback. It is based on a new, unidirectional ultrasonic probe.
Its measurement data are processed to convert the expected palpable pulsations to soft kinesthetic impulses. These are presented on a haptic interface.
Publications
Bernhard Kübler, Robin Gruber, Christoph Joppek, Johannes Port, Georg Passig, J.H. Nagel, and Gerd Hirzinger, "Tactile Feedback for Artery Detection in Minimally Invasive Robotic Surgery –Preliminary Results of a New Approach", in Proc. of the World Congress on Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering, Munich, Germany, September 2009, vol. 25, no. 6, pp. 299-302. elib
