Disens Symposium-book 2005 1 2.2 Sensing in Surgery

Introduction Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS) is an operating technique using long instruments inserted via small incisions in the skin. During open surgery, surgeons have natural view on the operation area and they can use their hands to feel the properties of the tissue. There is not much known about the exact role of haptic feedback during minimally invasive surgery. The surgeon has no direct contact with the tissue, but manipulates the tissue via laparoscopic instruments. Therefore, haptic feedback is reduced to force feedback. The feedback of perceptive information is further disturbed because the used instruments have friction in the hinges and there is friction in the trocar. As a consequence, there is limited perception of pinching and pulling forces. Although the force feedback is limited, it may still be an important aspect of the perceptive information used during e.g. subtle dissection tasks. This study investigates the role of force feedback. Two devices were developed to measure pinching and pulling forces in two different experimental settings. A concept for a new device using optical sensors combined with a deformable body was developed to be able to measure pinching and pulling force during an actual MIS procedure.