Student: Jake Johnny Xu
Project Mentors: Dr. Brian Kelly – Barrow Neurological Institute
Dr. James Abbas – SBHSE
Dr. Sydney Schaefer – SBHSE
YouTube Link: View this video providing an overview of the project before joining the zoom meeting
Zoom Link: https://asu.zoom.us/j/6468946626?pwd=dDg3ODU4N3owelJXeTNnYmk0RVQrdz09
Password: brain2020
Abstract
Excess forces applied during neurosurgery could lead to patient complications during and after surgery, thus there is clinical need for a quantitative real time tool-tissue feedback for various surgical tools. A force-based metric has been observed to be highly correlated to improving not only surgical training but also the outcome of surgical procedures. Past literature and previous studies attempted to design a force-sensing retractor. Although previous investigations and prototypes have developed methods and protocols to detect small magnitude forces applied, they lacked the ability to detect the magnitude of force without knowing the distance of the applied force. This is a critical limitation because the location of a net applied force can vary along a retractor during surgery and is often unseen and cannot be measured during surgery. The main goal of this project is to modify and improve the previous designs of a force-sensing suction retractor (FSR) device with a new and improved placement of strain gauges. The FSR utilizes a novel configuration of an aligned pair of strain gauge arrangement with only knowing the distance between the pair of gauge sets and the strain data collected. A stainless-steel suction tube was retrofitted with 8 gauges: two sets of 4 gauges aligned and separated radially by 90 degrees within each set. For this applied project, additional calibration load tests, fluid suction load tests and fluid suction only tests were conducted to determine robust forces metric detection accuracy of the FSR. Possible limitations and errors that may have decreases accuracy between actual and calculated values include the mini uniaxial strain gauge retrofitted alignment and radial placement on the lumen of the suction device were placed by hand and could be a few degrees off in terms of placement radially. Future work regarding improving the new FSR prototype, is to develop a better manufacturing and or retrofitting method to ensure accurate placement of gauges, both in paired alignment between sets and radial separation within the gauge sets. Overall, the clinical considerations for a force-sensing tool is aimed at minimizing patient injury during surgery, devices such as the force-sensing suction retractor is an example of novel technology that could become a standard technology within the surgical operating room.