Product News: A Smudge-Free, Self-Cleaning Laparoscope

BREAKTHROUGH DESIGN? Bioengineering students used off-the-shelf parts to build an oversized prototype of a self-cleaning laparoscope.

Four bioengineering students from UC Berkeley might have solved the annoying problem every laparoscopic surgeon faces: lenses that become clouded or dirty during surgery and have to be withdrawn, cleaned and repositioned — a process that takes several minutes and may need to be repeated numerous times during a procedure. The common causes of obstructed views during laparoscopy include abdominal bleeding, lens condensation and tissue smearing. The students have developed a self-cleaning laparoscope inspired by, of all things, a ballpoint pen.

"My partners and I spent hours trying to come up with ideas for possible solutions," says Neil Ray, one of the students and now an MD candidate at Duke. "After one session, Sakthi (Nagaraj) looked at the ballpoint pen he was jotting thoughts down with and began to think about the mechanism for how it works."

How the Self-Cleaning Laparoscope Works

• Apical lens is encased within a transparent glass sphere that continuously rotates by motor.
• A rubber wiper along the seal of the sphere on the outside of the scope removes debris and fluid.
• "Dirty" side of lens rotates into the scope, where it will be flushed with saline; vacuum will collect debris.
• Device provides continuous cleaning in situ.

That was the breakthrough moment. Applying the same principle as the ballpoint pen, which picks up ink as it rotates, the partners designed a scope that encases the lens within a motor-driven, continuously rotating, glass sphere. A rubber wiper at the seal of the sphere removes debris and fluid, which is vacuumed out, and as the sphere rotates inside, it's flushed with saline before it rotates back out, so the cleaning process is continuous.

Mr. Ray and Mr. Nagaraj, along with partners Jeffrey Yang and Nasim Barzanian, have a provisional patent for their rotationally self-cleaning surgical camera, and are looking to license the technology. Their prototypes include a large-scale fully functioning model made with materials from a hardware store. Now they're looking for the backing they need to bring what they hope will be a welcome innovation to the OR.

— Jim Burger

Electronic Badges Make Hand Hygiene Visible
The Biovigil System visibly alerts patients to the cleanliness of caregivers' hands without requiring them to ask. Employees clip electronic badges, which contain chemical sensors and track their patient room entries and exits, to their scrubs. After hand hygiene activity, wearers hold a hand near the badge, triggering a detection signal. A green hand icon indicates clean hands, while yellow indicates the need for hand washing and red indicates non-compliance. The company says its all-inclusive installation, monitoring, servicing and upgrading costs, on average, $2 to $3 per day, per room.
biovigilsystems.com

For Easier Hemostasis Clip Placement
The QuickClip Pro from Olympus makes hemostasis clip placement easier by letting you open, close and fully rotate the graspers. The ability to rotate is a big advantage when clips emerge from scopes at less-than-optimal orientations, as they often do, making it challenging to reorient them to the target site. The open-and-close function also allows for easier repositioning in tight spaces. The graspers open to 11 mm and the device has both increased material strength to resist bending and a sheath designed for easier insertion and precise handling, says the company.
medical.olympusamerica.com/products/quickclippro

Optimize Views of Difficult Anatomy
The Image 1 SPIES video enhancement from Karl Storz Endoscopy-America automatically adjusts pixels in the system's 3-chip cameras to lighten dark areas of displayed images, especially in challenging anatomical areas such as deep cavities or around critical structures, which lets surgeons avoid repeatedly repositioning the camera to maintain optional views of the surgical field. The system's current settings are displayed on a user-friendly dashboard, which surgeons can use to optimize images according to their personal preferences. Karl Storz says the system's modular design allows for simple, affordable upgrades to match with future imaging advances.
karlstorz.com