An image-guided surgical instrument system being developed by a team of bioengineering researchers has the chance to revolutionize some surgical procedures. The system pinpoints where to cut on patients who have scar tissue or other obstructive conditions.
The system is called the Multifunctional, Image Guided Surgical (MIGS) platform. The MIGS platform integrates into a single unit a high resolution, depth-resolved optical imaging system, a laser scalpel, a miniature multi?axis translation system, software to work the system and a control system.
Assistant Professor of Bioengineering Digant Davé is leading the inter-institutional team and has secured two grants totaling $614,000 from the National Institutes of Health to complete the development of the MIGS platform.
“Imagine a joystick with which the surgeon can position the imager and scalpel at the right location to see buried tissue layers and safely perform what could be risky surgery,” Dr. Davé said.
Many times, patients who have had previous surgeries, radiation treatments, tumors or inflammation have adhesion between different tissues, leaving surgeons without the normal tissue plane guidance they rely upon to identify various organs. This makes surgery for these patients risky. The MIGS platform enables the surgeon to see things in the body more clearly.
Dr. Davé said sometimes surgery hasn’t been done because of scar tissue or adhesions, leaving some disease processes untreated.
“This technology will enable us to see through scar tissue and identify critical regions between delicate structures, which in turn enables us to use a very fine laser to make the cut,” said Dr. Edward Livingston, professor and chief of gastrointestinal and endocrine surgery at UT Southwestern and professor of biomedical engineering. “This will be a major leap that will allow us to do very complex surgery.”
Dr. Davé said the completed MIGS platform will require the development of a compact and robust 3D optical imaging probe and the integration of a fiber laser scalpel with the imaging probe for precision tissue cutting. The team expects to complete the platform within the two-year
period covered by the funding grants.
The project will be conducted at the Bioengineering Department’s Optical Medical Imaging Laboratories located in the Advanced Imaging Research Center at the UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. In addition to Dr. Livingston, UT Arlington Bioengineering Professor Liping Tang and Virginia Tech Professor Shashank Priya are collaborating with Dr. Davé.
