Johns Hopkins University

Carnegie Mellon University

Peter Louis Gehlbach

Russell H Taylor

James Tahara Handa

Jin Ung Kang

Iulian Ioan Iordachita

Gregory Donald Hager

Marcin Arkadiusz Balicki

Seth D Billings

Xingchi He

Balazs Peter Vagvolgyi

Zachary Pezzementi

Raphael Sznitman

Peter Anthony Campochiaro

Yong Huang

Ali Uneri

Rajesh Kumar

Cameron Riviere

Berk Gonenc

Yuki Horise

Jaeho Han

Yi Yang

Vincent Van Geirt

Dexterous manipulation devices are provided having an end effector enabling large curvature with a diameter of 1 mm or less that can articulate about an axis in a working space of about or less than 4 mm by 4 mm. Preferred devices are robotically actuated and controlled and can be used for a variety of therapeutic and diagnostic applications.

Manipulator device and therapeutic and diagnostic methods

A micromanipulation system includes a micromanipulator that includes a handpiece, and a micromanipulation tool that includes a tool shaft and is operatively connected to the handpiece. The micromanipulator further includes an actuator assembly connected to the micromanipulation tool to provide manual control of the micromanipulation tool, and a force sensing system comprising a force sensor attached to the tool shaft. The force sensing system is configured to provide an output signal that indicates a force imposed on the tool shaft. The micromanipulation system also includes a processor that is in communication with the force sensing system, and is configured to receive the output signal and compensate for forces due to actuation of the micromanipulation tool to determine a force due to interaction of the micromanipulation tool with a region of interest. The processor outputs an indication of at least one of a magnitude and a direction of the determined force.

Micromanipulation systems and methods

A force-sensing tool includes a tool shaft that has a proximal end and a distal end, a flexure section attached at a first end to the distal end of the tool shaft, a tool tip operatively connected to the flexure section such that axial forces applied to the tool tip are coupled primarily to a first portion of the flexure section and transverse forces applied to the tool tip are coupled primarily to a second portion of the flexure section, an axial force sensor coupled to the first portion of the flexure section, and a transverse force sensor coupled to the second portion of the flexure section. The axial force sensor responds to axial forces applied to the tool tip substantially independently of the transverse forces applied to the tool tip under a designed operating range of forces, and the transverse force sensor responds to transverse forces applied to the tool tip substantially independently of the axial forces applied to the tool tip under the designed operating range of forces.

Tool and tool system having independent axial and transverse force sensing

A motion-compensated injector system includes a handheld tool having a hollow shaft with a distal end for insertion into tissue of a subject. The system also includes an optical coherence tomography-based optical detection system having an optical fiber with a distal end at a fixed distance from the distal end of the hollow shaft, and an optical sensor to receive a signal from the optical fiber. The system further includes an actuator to move the hollow shaft in an axial direction, and a control unit to control the actuator. The optical detection system can monitor a distance between the distal end of the optical fiber and a reference portion of the tissue of the subject, and the control unit can control the actuator to move the hollow shaft to compensate for relative motion between the handheld tool and the portion of the tissue.

Fiber optic distal sensor controlled drug injector

An observation system for viewing light-sensitive tissue includes an illumination system configured to illuminate the light-sensitive tissue, an imaging system configured to image at least a portion of the light-sensitive tissue upon being illuminated by the illumination system, and an image display system in communication with the imaging system to display an image of the portion of the light-sensitive tissue. The illumination system is configured to illuminate the light-sensitive tissue with a reduced amount of light within a preselected wavelength range compared to multispectral illumination light, and the image of the portion of the light-sensitive tissue is compensated for the reduced amount of light within the preselected frequency range to approximate an image of the light-sensitive tissue under the multispectral illumination.

Programmable multispectral illumination system for surgery and visualization of light-sensitive tissues

A surgical system provides hands-free control of at least one surgical tool includes a robot having a tool connector, a smart tool attached to the tool connector of the robot, and a feedback control system configured to communicate with the smart tool to provide feedback control of the robot. The smart tool includes a tool that has a tool shaft having a distal end and a proximal end, a strain sensor arranged at a first position along the tool shaft, at least one of a second strain sensor or a torque-force sensor arranged at a second position along the tool shaft, the second position being more towards the proximal end of the tool shaft than the first position, and a signal processor configured to communicate with the strain sensor and the at least one of the second strain sensor or the torque-force sensor to receive detection signals therefrom. The signal processor is configured to process the detection signals to determine a magnitude and position of a lateral component of a force applied to the tool shaft when the position of the applied force is between the first and second positions. The feedback system controls the robot to move in response to at least the magnitude and position of the lateral component of the force applied to the tool shaft when the position of the applied force is between the first and second positions so as to cancel the force applied to the tool shaft to thereby provide hands-free control of the at least one surgical tool.

Surgical system providing hands-free control of a surgical tool

A surgical instrument has a surgical tool that has a proximal end and a distal end, and an optical sensor that has at least a portion attached to the surgical tool. The surgical tool has a portion that is suitable to provide a reference portion of the surgical tool, and the optical sensor has an end fixed relative to the reference portion of the surgical tool such that the reference portion of the surgical tool can be detected along with tissue that is proximate or in contact with the distal end of the surgical tool while in use.

Surgical instrument and systems with integrated optical sensor

A motion-compensated cutting system includes a hand-held tool body, and an actuator connected to the tool body. A shaft of the actuator is movable relative to the tool body so that a distal end of a cutting implement attached to the shaft is axially movable relative to the tool body. An optical coherence tomography system includes an optical fiber with a distal end fixed relative to the distal end of the cutting implement. The system includes a control unit that can determine a position of the distal end of the cutting implement relative to a reference surface based on input from the optical coherence tomography system. The control unit can control the cutting implement to compensate for relative motion between the tool body and the reference surface, and can maintain a predetermined depth of the distal end of the cutting implement with respect to the reference surface.

Fiber optic distal sensor controlled micro-manipulation systems and methods

A motion-compensated micro-forceps system, including a manually-operable micro-forceps assembly having a plurality of moveable grasping elements; a motor assembly operatively connected to the plurality of moveable grasping elements; an optical detection system having an optical fiber attached to the manually-operable micro-forceps assembly at a fixed axial distance relative to a distal-most end of the plurality of moveable grasping elements; and a motor controller configured to communicate with the optical detection system and the motor assembly to provide motion compensation of the plurality of moveable grasping elements of the manually-operable micro-forceps, wherein the optical detection system is configured to output a signal for the determination of a distance of the plurality of moveable grasping elements of the micro-forceps to a target during operation, and wherein the motor controller is configured to provide feedback control signals to the motor assembly for motion compensation for both hand tremor and for hand-action-induced motions.

Motion-compensated micro-forceps system and method

A visual tracking and annotation system for surgical intervention includes an image acquisition and display system arranged to obtain image streams of a surgical region of interest and of a surgical instrument proximate the surgical region of interest and to display acquired images to a user; a tracking system configured to track the surgical instrument relative to the surgical region of interest; a data storage system in communication with the image acquisition and display system and the tracking system; and a data processing system in communication with the data storage system, the image acquisition and display system and the tracking system. The data processing system is configured to annotate images displayed to the user in response to an input signal from the user.

Visual tracking and annotaton of clinically important anatomical landmarks for surgical interventions

A method and system for micro-force guided cooperative control that assists the operator in manipulating tissue in the direction of least resistance. A tool holder receives a surgical tool adapted to be held by a robot and a surgeon. A first sensor measures interaction forces between a tip of the surgical tool and tissue of a region of interest. A second sensor measures interaction forces between the surgeon and a handle to the surgical tool. A data processor is configured to perform an algorithm to actively guide the surgical tool by creating a bias towards a path of least resistance and limit directional tool forces of the surgical tool as a function of handle input forces and tip forces. This function offers assistance to challenging retinal membrane peeling procedures that require a surgeon to delicately delaminate fragile tissue that is susceptible to hemorrhage and tearing due to undesirable forces.

Micro-force guided cooperative control for surgical manipulation of delicate tissue

An illumination system includes a light source, an optical waveguide that has a proximal end and a distal end such that the proximal end is arranged to receive light from the light source and the distal end is suitable to illuminate an object of interest; and an optical coupler constructed and arranged to couple light from the light source into the optical waveguide. The optical coupler includes a reflective surface that reflects at least some light diverging from the light source to be coupled into the optical waveguide.

High-efficiency illumination system

The invention is directed to a method of prophylactically or therapeutically treating choroidal neovascularization, wherein the method comprises directly administering to the eye a therapeutic factor or a nucleic acid sequence that encodes a therapeutic factor, which he expressed to produce the therapeutic factor, to selectively induce apoptosis of endothelial cells associated with neovascularization of the choroid such that choroidal neovascularization is treated prophylactically or therapeutically. The invention also provides a method of prophylactically or therapeutically treating ocular neovascularization, wherein the method comprises directly administering to the eye a nucleic acid sequence encoding a therapeutic factor to promote apoptosis of endothelial cells associated with neovascularization, such that the nucleic acid is expressed thereby producing the therapeutic factor to treat ocular neovascularization prophylactically or therapeutically.

Growing community of inventors

Hunt Valley, MD, United States of America

Peter Louis Gehlbach