NYU Abu Dhabi Researchers develop new tool that brings missing sense of touch to minimally-invasive surgery procedures

NYU Abu Dhabi Researchers develop new tool that brings missing sense of touch to minimally-invasive surgery procedures

Abu Dhabi, UAE: A team of researchers from the NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) Advanced Microfluidics and Microdevices Laboratory (AMMLab) have developed a simple, yet effective approach for on-demand tactile sensing in minimally-invasive surgery, overcoming a key limitation – the inability of surgeons to “feel” tissues during an operation. The researchers successfully tested the efficacy of their new tool, which uses off-the-shelf sensors integrated into a laparoscopic grasper, with the assistance of surgeons from Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi (CCAD).

Minimally-invasive surgery (MIS), also known as “keyhole surgery,” has many advantages. Using specialized surgical instruments with thin, long tube-like shafts associated with endoscopes and surgical graspers, needles, and shears, MIS allows visualization and surgical access to target organs through small incisions. It requires shorter recovery times than “open surgery” and often involves less pain and scarring. Nonetheless, it offers surgeons limited field of vision and no ability to “feel” relative differences and stiffness of tissues during operation. Therefore, MIS operations are associated with the “lost sense of touch” dilemma for surgeons.

In a new study titled Stiffness Assessment and Lump Detection in Minimally Invasive Surgery Using In-House Developed Smart Laparoscopic Forceps in the IEEE Journal of Translational Engineering in Health and Medicine, the researchers,