A novel magnetic-driven tissue retraction device for minimally invasive surgery

Abstract

Introduction: The purpose of this work is to design and validate an innovative magnetic-based device for tissue retraction for minimally invasive surgery.

Material and methods: An intra-abdominal magnetic module is coupled with an extracorporeal system for establishing a stable attraction, and consequently a reliable tissue retraction. Once the retractor has been inserted into the abdomen, tissue retraction is not constrained by a fixed access port, thus guaranteeing a more flexible, safer and less invasive operation. The intra-abdominal unit is composed of an axial permanent magnet attached to a stainless-steel non-magnetic alligator clip by a traditional suturing thread. A miniaturized mechanism to adjust the length of the suturing thread for lengthening or shortening the distance between the tissue grasper and the internal magnetic unit is included. A multiphysics approach assured a dedicated design that thoroughly fulfills anatomical, physiological and engineering constraints.

Results: System functionalities were demonstrated both in in-vitro and ex-vivo conditions, reaching good results and promising outcomes in terms of effectiveness and maneuverability. The retractor was successfully tested in an animal model, carrying out a whole retraction procedure.

Conclusion: The proposed retraction system resulted to be intuitive, reliable, robust and easy to use, representing a suitable device for MIS procedures.

Keywords:

• Magnetic surgical device
• FEM simulation
• MIS
• retraction
• surgical tool

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Dr. Andrea Peri for his precious suggestions during the optimization of the device, Dr. Giancarlo Basili for his advices during the ex-vivo and in-vitro testing sessions, as well as Dr. Silvia Burchielli and CNR animal lab staff for their invaluable help during the animal experiments.

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.