A Novel Structure of a Less Invasive Forceps to Realize Linear Clamping for Endoscopic Surgery

Abstract

Safety is always a commonly concerned issue during the development of minimally invasive surgery for more than 30 yr. For the absence of force feedback in conventional forceps, excessive pressure may be applied on tissues leading to unexpected injury. In this paper, a gearrack endoscopic forceps structure embedded with a shape memory alloy (SMA) is proposed to solve this problem. The gearrack jaws structure enables a linear relation between clamping pressure and handling force which makes the estimating clamping force easier for a surgeon. The SMA wire is embedded to control the clamping pressure at a certain value which is necessary and sufficient for tissue clamping. In this way, the forceps with these two features could make surgery much safer. A prototype is designed to demonstrate the concept.