Patent ID: 9713480
Date: 2017-07-25
CPC Classifications: A61B

Claim:
1. A method to simulate a cut line in intestinal wall tissue and cut along the cut line for achieving anastomosis, the method comprising: making an initial incision in the intestinal wall tissue near a location of tissue to be removed from intestines; inserting a probe including a plurality of light emitters positioned circumferentially on an external surface of the probe in a vicinity near a distal end of the probe through the incision into a lumen of the intestines such that the intestinal wall tissue surrounds the external surface of the probe and covers the plurality of light emitters; sliding a sliding member over the probe and an external surface of the intestinal wall tissue to a potential cut line at a location where a plurality of photodetectors positioned circumferentially around an interior surface of the sliding member are oriented to face the plurality of light emitters; compressing a compression ring positioned around a circumference of the sliding member to simulate cutting along the potential cut line; transmitting a light pattern detected at the potential cut line to an external computing device; generating a perfusion map based on the detected light pattern at the potential cut line; and if the perfusion map indicates that the potential cut line is an acceptable cut line, activating a cutting blade positioned next to the compression ring on the sliding member to cut the intestinal wall tissue along the potential cut line and temporarily compressing the compression ring to support the intestinal wall tissue while the cutting blade is cutting the intestinal wall tissue.