Design and development of custom laparoscopic surgical tool handle using additive manufacturing technology

Abstract

In this day and age, business perspective of the healthcare sector is promising not only worldwide but also in India. Demands for personalized or customized medical devices such as implants, prosthesis, and surgical instruments are increasing day by day. Exploration of customized medical devices is essential to meet the future business opportunities. Additive Manufacturing (AM) can play an imperative role to enlarge this business prospect in terms of customized medical devices. Focusing further in the area of healthcare system, literature review presented in this research identified that laparoscopic surgical procedure requires customized and ergonomically designed surgical instruments. In laparoscopic surgery, surgeons lack in hand-eye coordination since this type of surgery is performed by looking into a monitor without direct contact alike open surgery with the organs. This approach of surgery was found to have surgical errors. The only interface device is the laparoscopic surgical tool, which need to be made in such a way that it provides a better coordination and responsive feel during surgery. This tool demands a custom fit with enhanced anthropometric data of customers. Anthropometry, science of collecting human body dimensions, is a branch of ergonomics. Additionally, Ergonomics can be considered as a contributing factor in customized product development, and it can enhance comfort of the users. Based on literature review, research questions for this research were set for enhancing comfort by developing a strategy for individual customization using a healthcare product by exploring the capabilities of additive manufacturing technology according to one s hand size. Qualitativedata collection and analysis were conducted for identifying which laparoscopic instrument causes more discomfort during or after the surgical procedure in Indian scenario. Email survey and personal interviews were carried out for qualitative data collection among laparoscopic surgeons. 43.1 percent of surgeons reported that laparoscopic forceps induce more pain during or after the laparoscopic surgical procedure. In this regard, it was determined to customize laparoscopic forceps handle using hand anthropometric data and also to incorporate ergonomic factors to augment comfort of users. Hand anthropometric data of south Indian population was collected for customizing laparoscopic forceps handle using tracer method, which is a subject convenient and novel hand data collection technique. Additionally, analyzing ergonomic and customization issues of existing forceps handle, critical hand anthropometric dimensions were fixed newline