Robotically-assisted surgical suturing systems
AssigneeEthicon, Inc.
InventorsCharles J. Scheib, Jeffrey S. Swayze
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A surgical suturing tracking system configured for use with a suturing needle is disclosed. The surgical suturing tracking system comprises a spectral light emitter, a waveform sensor, and a control circuit coupled to the waveform sensor. The control circuit is configured to cause the spectral light emitter to emit spectral light waves toward a suturing needle and a tissue structure, receive an input corresponding to the spectral light waves reflected by the needle and the tissue structure and determine a distance between the needle and the tissue structure based on the received input.
Claims20
A surgical suturing tracking system configured for use with a suturing needle, wherein the surgical suturing tracking system comprises:
- a spectral light emitter;
- a waveform sensor;
- and
- a control circuit coupled to the waveform sensor, wherein the control circuit is configured to:
- cause the spectral light emitter to emit spectral light waves toward the suturing needle and a tissue structure;
- receive an input corresponding to the spectral light waves reflected by the suturing needle and the tissue structure;
- and
- determine a distance between the suturing needle and the tissue structure based on the received input,
- wherein the surgical suturing tracking system is configured to control a robotic suturing system using the determined distance between the suturing needle and the tissue structure.
A surgical suturing system, comprising:
- a robotically-assisted suturing device, comprising:
- a grasper configured to be manipulated automatically by a surgical robot and manually by a clinician;
- and
- a suturing needle configured to be actuated through a suturing stroke by the grasper when automatic control motions are robotically applied to the grasper;
- a spectral light emitter;
- a waveform sensor;
- and
- a control circuit coupled to the waveform sensor and the robotically-assisted suturing device, wherein the control circuit is configured to:
- cause the spectral light emitter to emit spectral light waves toward the suturing needle and a tissue structure;
- receive an input corresponding to the spectral light waves reflected by the suturing needle and the tissue structure;
- determine a distance between the suturing needle and the tissue structure;
- and
- adjust the control motions robotically applied to the grasper when the determined distance between the suturing needle and the tissue structure is less than or equal to a predefined distance.
A surgical suturing system, comprising:
- a robotically-assisted suturing device, comprising:
- a grasper configured to be manipulated automatically by a surgical robot and manually by a clinician;
- and
- a suturing needle configured to be actuated through a suturing stroke by the grasper when automatic control motions are robotically applied to the grasper;
- a spectral light emitter;
- a waveform sensor;
- and
- a control circuit coupled to the waveform sensor and the robotically-assisted suturing device, wherein the control circuit is configured to:
- cause the spectral light emitter to emit spectral light waves toward the suturing needle and a tissue structure;
- receive an input corresponding to the spectral light waves reflected by the suturing needle and the tissue structure;
- determine a position of the suturing needle and a position of the tissue structure based on the received input;
- predict a path of the suturing stroke to be performed by the robotically assisted suturing device based on the received input;
- and
- determine a distance between the predicted path of the suturing stroke and the tissue structure.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.