The future of robotic surgery in terms of head, neck and face procedures includes constant innovation to gain more precision. We stay up-to-date on the latest trends in the medical device industry to give us a good eye on what’s coming next. This month’s newsworthy medical innovation is a new mechanical wrist reported on in Popular Mechanics, made specifically for needlescopic surgery. A group of Vanderbilt engineers and doctors created the tiny wrist for enhanced flexibility for specialized minimally invasive surgery. It can be difficult to move around in small places, but this device could alleviate the manual difficulty of some procedures.
The wrist is constructed using a wire that runs through a needle-sized nitinol tube consisting of a sequence of grooves on the side. The grooves allow the wrist to have tension so when it bends, it can return to its original position. In the future, doctors could use the mechanical wrist to dissect, remove matter, or to tie a knot while stitching intracorporeally during surgeries. This could even include operations as detailed and complex as transnasal brain surgery.
Devices like this could take micro-laparoscopic surgery to the next level, making the procedure virtually incision-less and recovery time shorter. Leave a comment below and let us know what you think about this newest innovation, and look out for our next news update!
It can be difficult to operate within such small spaces. This device enables surgeons to operate within small surgical fields more easily, while maintaining the precision required for these complex cases.
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