Robotic force stabilization for beating heart intracardiac surgery

Proc. Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention (MICCAI), 2009

Shelten G Yuen, Michael C Yip, Nikolay V Vasilyev, Douglas P Perrin, Pedro J Del Nido, Robert D Howe

Abstract: The manipulation of fast moving, delicate tissues in beating heart procedures presents a considerable challenge to surgeons. We present a new robotic force stabilization system that assists surgeons by maintaining a constant contact force with the beating heart. The system incorporates a novel, miniature uniaxial force sensor that is mounted to surgical instrumentation to measure contact forces during surgical manipulation. Using this sensor in conjunction with real-time tissue motion information derived from 3D ultrasound, we show that a force controller with feed-forward motion terms can provide safe and accurate force stabilization in an in vivo contact task against the beating mitral valve annulus. This confers a 50% reduction in force fluctuations when compared to a standard force controller and a 75% reduction in fluctuations when compared to manual attempts to maintain the same force.

Yuen et al. (2009) Robotic force stabilization for beating heart intracardiac surgery, Proc. Medical Image Computing and Computer-Assisted Intervention (MICCAI), pp. 26-33.

Pub Link: http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-642-04268-3_4
arXiv: