Flexible support scaffold for organ retraction in laparoscopic surgery

Abstract

With millions of abdominal surgeries performed annually in the United States alone, abdominal surgery is both a large market and a large medial issue. The entire industry surrounding abdominal surgery has strived to reduce the pain and trauma associated with an operation by reducing the number and size of incisions made in the abdominal wall, but in the process of reducing openings into the abdomen, the difficulty of operating increases. In order to retract organs within the abdominal cavity while further reducing the number of ports required for surgery, the author has previously designed and fabricated a device to be inserted into the abdominal cavity through one small port. Once inside of the abdominal cavity, the device is expands to form a rigid platform across the ventral abdominal wall serving as a platform for organ retraction. While the previously fabricated device functions as intended, it's rigid shape does not match the shape of the ventral abdominal wall, and as such, the device occupies unnecessary operating space. The work of this paper involves the design of a system to permit the existing device to conform to the shape of the ventral abdominal wall while still supporting a load. Two methods were examined to permit the device to conform while still supporting a load: Flexure and Hinged joints. Both flexure and hinged joints were developed, prototyped, and analyzed to meet all functional requirements. Both methods proved ultimately successful in meeting functional requirements, yet flexure joints were significance easier to produce and thus represent a more viable solution for mass production.