Endoscopic Tissue Stapler
UC San Diego | MAE 156B Spring 2021
Sponsored by Dr. Andrew Vahabzadeh-Hagh
Background
Medical Skin Staplers, as seen to the left, are already widely used for closing wounds on the surface of the skin. They offer several advantages over traditional sutures, such as being faster to apply and more sanitary.
Endoscopic surgical procedures oftentimes involve use of specialized tools through elongated devices known as laryngoscopes, as depicted in the figure to the right. Following many commonplace endoscopic procedures, hard to reach wounds in the throat region must be stitched closed until healing occurs. This tightly enclosed stitching process poses extreme difficulty, even to highly experienced surgeons.
Depiction of typical tool (left) inserted into a laryngoscope (right) during an endoscopic procedure.
Project Objective
The objective of this project was to design a specialized tissue stapler, similar in function to typical skin staplers, for use through a laryngoscope to close wounds following endoscopic surgical procedures in order to decrease difficulty and increase efficiency of wound closure in this tightly enclosed region.
The final design consists of four major components which, when used together, serve to accomplish the stated objective: The Endoscopic Stapler, a Staple Die, a Staple Cartridge, and a Staple Remover.
A more detailed description of each of these components can be found on the Final Design Page.