Patent Publication Number: US-2017354403-A1

Title: Surgical instrument with presure sensing and vision feedback functions

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a surgical instrument and more particularly to a surgical instrument with pressure sensing and vision feedback functions. 
     2. Description of Related Art 
     When a doctor performs a surgery, a skin of a patient&#39;s body is cut to expose internal organs or tissues. The doctor manually operates a surgical instrument, such as a scalpel, scissors, a retractor, a clamp, and so on, to perform the surgery. As technology advances, minimally invasive surgical equipment with a display device is provided for the doctor to perform the surgery. The doctor operates the minimally invasive surgical equipment, such as an endoscope, a Da Vinci robot arm, etc., to perform the surgery and the doctor can see the patient&#39;s internal body from surgical images on the display device. Therefore, a generation of a huge wound on the patient&#39;s body can be avoided to reduce a chance of wound infection and shorten a recovery time. Conversely, a surgeon for performing the minimally invasive surgery requires a professional training to become familiar with the functions of the surgical equipments. Therefore, the doctor can familiarly perform the minimally invasive surgery. 
     When the doctor manually performs the surgery in person, multiple different instruments are put on the patient and the doctor has to hold the surgical instruments to move around the wound site. A well-trained doctor can determine whether the surgical instruments hit or press the unwounded organs or the unwounded tissues and adjust the movement properly. However, an inexperienced doctor or a medical intern with less experience may not be able to determine whether the surgical instruments hit or press the unwounded organs or the unwounded tissues, and this may affect the performance of the surgery. For example, an accidental cut or hurt may happen in normal organs, tissues, blood vessels, veins, arteries or nerves. On the other hand, for the minimally invasive surgical equipment, the doctor performs the surgery in the human body indirectly by the minimally invasive surgical instruments rather than manually performs the surgery by the surgical instruments in the human body. Therefore, the doctor does not have a manual tactile feedback and it is hard for the doctor to feel whether the surgical instruments hit or press the unwounded organs or the unwounded tissues. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Accordingly, a main objective of the present invention is to provide a surgical instrument with pressure sensing and vision feedback functions to assist a doctor to determine whether the surgical instrument hits other surgical instruments or presses organs or tissues within a patient&#39;s body. 
     The surgical instrument with pressure sensing and vision feedback functions comprises: 
     an instrument body including a work piece with a visible surface; and 
     a piezochromic device disposed on the visible surface of the work piece of the instrument body and performing color change when the piezochromic device senses pressure. 
     According to the structure in the present invention, the work piece of the instrument body can enter the patient&#39;s body and the visible surface is a surface where the doctor can directly see during the surgery. Therefore, the doctor can directly see the piezochromic device during the surgery. Moreover, the piezochromic device changes the color when the piezochromic device senses the pressure. When the piezochromic device hits other instruments or presses the organ or the tissue within the patient&#39;s body, the piezochromic device changes the color immediately when the piezochromic device senses the pressure for the doctor to directly determine. 
     Accordingly, regardless that the surgeon is a well-trained doctor or a doctor with less experience or the surgeon is manually operated by the doctor in person or the doctor operates the minimally invasive surgery equipment, the piezochromic device changes the color when the piezochromic device is hit or pressed. The doctor can directly see the piezochromic device to determine whether the color of the piezochromic device is changed or not so as to adjust the surgical movement. The surgical instrument can be efficiently prevented from hitting or pressing unwounded organs or tissues within the patient&#39;s body to guarantee that the surgery is successfully performed. Moreover, the structure in the present invention is simple and easy to operate, and the practicability is enhanced. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a plan view of a surgical instrument in an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a plan view of a piezochromic device in the embodiment of the present invention; and 
         FIG. 3  is a plan view of the piezochromic device in another embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     With reference to  FIG. 1 , a surgical instrument with pressure sensing and vision feedback functions in the present invention includes an instrument body  10  and a piezochromic device  20 . It should be noted that the surgical instrument of the present invention is not limited to be a handheld surgical instrument and can also be a surgical instrument for minimally invasive surgery equipment. 
     The instrument body  10  includes a handle  11  and a work piece  12 . The handle  11  can be a handheld component such that medical staffs can hold the handle  11 . In another embodiment, the handle  11  can be a connecting portion such that a robotic arm of the minimally invasive surgical equipment can be connected to the handle  11 . The work piece  12  is a portion that can enter a patient&#39;s body when the instrument body  10  is used during a surgery. The work piece  12  includes a visible surface  121  and the visible surface  121  is a surface where the doctor can directly see during the surgery. For example, the instrument body  10  can be a scalpel, surgical scissors, blood vessel pliers, forceps, a needle holder, tissue forceps, a towel clamp, a right-angle clamp, an intestinal clamp, a stomach clamp, a towing hook, a suction, etc, but it is not limited herein. The instrument body  10  shown in  FIG. 1  is a handheld clamp as an example, and the work piece  12  includes a clamp surface  122  for gripping objects and the visible surface  121  is another surface opposite to the clamp surface  122 . 
     The piezochromic device  20  is mounted on the visible surface  121  of the work piece  12  of the instrument body  10 . With reference to  FIG. 2 , the piezochromic device  20  can be a one-piece structure. When the piezochromic device  20  doesn&#39;t sense pressure, a first color is shown. When the piezochromic device  20  senses pressure, a pressed portion of the piezochromic device  20  shows a second color, which is different from the first color. When the pressure is removed from the piezochromic device  20 , the piezochromic device  20  doesn&#39;t sense pressure and shows the first color. Therefore, the piezochromic device  20  senses the pressure to perform color change. 
     In addition, the piezochromic device  20  can be a hollow pattern structure, including one or more hollows. With reference to  FIG. 3 , the piezochromic device  20  includes multiple hollows  21 . The hollows  21  are reference points to determine positions of the piezochromic device  20 . As the embodiment shown in  FIG. 3 , the hollows  21  are aligned and respectively formed in different shapes (such as, for example, a circular shape, an oval shape, a polygonal shape, etc) enabling the doctor to distinguish a front section, a middle section or a rear section of the piezochromic device  20 . 
     Since the piezochromic device  20  is mounted on the visible surface  121  of the work piece  12 , the doctor can directly see the piezochromic device  20  during the surgery to determine whether the color change of the piezochromic device  20  occurs. Therefore, when the piezochromic device  20  contacts other surgical instruments or presses the normal organs or the normal tissues within the patient&#39;s body, the piezochromic device  20  senses the pressure and directly changes its color. When the doctor observes that the color of the piezochromic device  20  is changed, the doctor can adjust the movement of the surgical instrument and the surgery can be performed smoothly.