Roll-pitch-roll surgical tool

Details Roll-pitch-roll surgical tool Roll-pitch-roll surgical tool

2000-07-27

2004-06-08

Fox, John (Department: 3753)

Surgery

Instruments

Reexamination Certificate

active

06746443

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Advances in minimally invasive surgical technology could dramatically increase the number of surgeries performed in a minimally invasive manner. Minimally invasive medical techniques are aimed at reducing the amount of extraneous tissue that is damaged during diagnostic or surgical procedures, thereby reducing patient recovery time, discomfort, and deleterious side effects. The average length of a hospital stay for a standard surgery may also be shortened significantly using minimally invasive surgical techniques. Thus, an increased adoption of minimally invasive techniques could save millions of hospital days, and millions of dollars annually in hospital residency costs alone. Patient recovery times, patient discomfort, surgical side effects, and time away from work may also be reduced with minimally invasive surgery.
The most common form of minimally invasive surgery may be endoscopy. Probably the most common form of endoscopy is laparoscopy, which is minimally invasive inspection and surgery inside the abdominal cavity. In standard laparoscopic surgery, a patient's abdomen is insufflated with gas, and cannula sleeves are passed through small (approximately ½ inch) incisions to provide entry ports for laparoscopic surgical instruments. The laparoscopic surgical instruments generally include a laparoscope (for viewing the surgical field) and working tools. The working tools are similar to those used in conventional (open) surgery, except that the working end or end effector of each tool is separated from its handle by an extension tube. As used herein, the term “end effector” means the actual working part of the surgical instrument and can include clamps, graspers, scissors, staplers, and needle holders, for example. To perform surgical procedures, the surgeon passes these working tools or instruments through the cannula sleeves to an internal surgical site and manipulates them from outside the abdomen. The surgeon monitors the procedure by means of a monitor that displays an image of the surgical site taken from the laparoscope. Similar endoscopic techniques are employed in, e.g., arthroscopy, retroperitoneoscopy, pelviscopy, nephroscopy, cystoscopy, cisternoscopy, sinoscopy, hysteroscopy, urethroscopy and the like.
There are many disadvantages relating to current minimally invasive surgical (MIS) technology. For example, existing MIS instruments deny the surgeon the flexibility of tool placement found in open surgery. Most current laparoscopic tools have rigid shafts, so that it can be difficult to approach the worksite through the small incision. Additionally, the length and construction of many endoscopic instruments reduces the surgeon's ability to feel forces exerted by tissues and organs on the end effector of the associated tool. The lack of dexterity and sensitivity of endoscopic tools is a major impediment to the expansion of minimally invasive surgery.
Minimally invasive telesurgical robotic systems are being developed to increase a surgeon's dexterity when working within an internal surgical site, as well as to allow a surgeon to operate on a patient from a remote location. In a telesurgery system, the surgeon is often provided with an image of the surgical site at a computer workstation. While viewing a three-dimensional image of the surgical site on a suitable viewer or display, the surgeon performs the surgical procedures on the patient by manipulating master input or control devices of the workstation. The master controls the motion of a servomechanically operated surgical instrument. During the surgical procedure, the telesurgical system can provide mechanical actuation and control of a variety of surgical instruments or tools having end effectors such as, e.g., tissue graspers, needle drivers, or the like, that perform various functions for the surgeon, e.g., holding or driving a needle, grasping a blood vessel, or dissecting tissue, or the like, in response to manipulation of the master control devices.
Some surgical tools employ a roll-pitch-yaw mechanism for providing three degrees of rotational movement to an end effector around three perpendicular axes. At about 90° pitch, the yaw and roll rotational movements overlap, resulting in the loss of one degree of rotational movement.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is generally directed to robotic surgery methods, devices, and systems. The invention provides a minimally invasive surgical tool which operates with three degrees of rotational movement at about 90° pitch. In particular, the surgical tool employs a roll-pitch-roll configuration in which an elongate shaft is rotatable in proximal roll, a wrist member is pivotally mounted on the working end of the elongate shaft to rotate in pitch, and an end effector is pivotally mounted on the wrist member to rotate in distal roll around the wrist axis of the wrist member. At about 90° pitch, the wrist axis is generally perpendicular to the shaft axis of the elongate shaft. The proximal roll around the shaft axis and the distal roll around the wrist axis do not overlap. In some embodiments, a pulley and cable mechanism is used to rotate and actuate the end effector.
In some embodiments, the end effector can be bent back beyond 90° pitch. The mechanism coupling the end effector to the working end of the elongate shaft allows the wrist member and end effector to bend back by an angle &thgr; of more than about 90° from the forward position, desirably by more than about 120°, and more desirably by more than about 135°. The ability to operate the end effector at about 90° pitch and to bend back the end effector renders the wrist mechanism more versatile and adaptable to accessing hard to reach locations, particularly with small entry points such as those involving spinal, neural, or rectal surgical sites. In specific embodiments, a pair of linking arms are pivotally connected between the working end and the wrist member to facilitate bend back pitching while maintaining the size of the tool to a sufficiently small size for minimally invasive surgical applications.
In accordance to an aspect of the present invention, a minimally invasive surgical instrument comprises an elongate shaft having a working end and a shaft axis, and at least one linking arm having a proximal end and a distal end. The proximal end is pivotally mounted on the working end of the shaft to rotate around a first pitch axis which is nonparallel to the shaft axis. A wrist member has a proximal portion pivotally connected to the distal end of the linking arm to rotate around a second pitch axis which is nonparallel to the shaft axis. An end effector is pivotally mounted on a distal portion of the wrist member to rotate around a wrist axis of the wrist member. The wrist axis extends between the proximal portion and the distal portion of the wrist member. The elongate shaft is rotatable around the shaft axis.
In some embodiments, the first pitch axis and the second pitch axis are parallel, and are perpendicular to the shaft axis. A pair of linking arms are connected between the working end and the wrist member. The end effector includes an end effector support pivotally mounted on the distal portion of the wrist member to rotate around the wrist axis. The end effector includes at least one end effector link pivotally mounted on the end effector support to rotate around a pivot axis which is nonparallel to the wrist axis. The pivot axis may be perpendicular to the wrist axis. The end effector may include a pair of end effector links. The end effector links may be rotatable around the pivot axis to move toward and away from one another. The end effector links may be rotatable around the pivot axis to move together in the same direction. One of the end effector links may be fixed relative to the end effector support.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a minimally invasive surgical instrument comprises an elongate shaft having a working end and a proximal end. The elongate shaft has a shaft axis between the proximal end and t

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