Grant: Idea to Innovation

Minimally invasive surgery (MIS) is carried out using laparoscopic instruments and significantly reduces trauma to the body, post-operative pain and recovery time. Unfortunately, the restricted access conditions, limited instrument motion, and degraded sense of touch result in new perceptual-motor relationships that are unfamiliar to the surgeon and require training to overcome. Current training methods do not adequately address the needs of surgeons interested in acquiring these skills. The goal of this project is to develop a training and skills assessment system for MIS, the Sensorized Instrument-based Minimally Invasive Surgery (SIMIS) training system, which assesses the position and force profiles of laparoscopic instruments during the performance of standardized laparoscopic tasks. Current systems are mostly manually driven or based on computer simulations; SIMIS would bridge this gap by using manual tasks that are monitored and assessed electronically. This project plan includes: developing an interface to assess skill level based on position and force profiles of the surgical instruments and to provide real-time feedback on trainee performance; developing an enhanced design of the sensorized laparoscopic instruments; and integrating software that allows tracking the position of the instruments by processing images from the endoscopic camera present in the training environment. The commercialization plan is to secure a license with a Canadian company that has an international presence and is experienced in developing medical devices and/or surgical training packages. We will be looking to market the product internationally to meet growing MIS demand resulting from medical tourism and accelerated economic development in such countries as India and China. We will also be working with Canadian and US current regulating bodies to adopt and promote SIMIS as a complementary product to current training and skills assessment tools. The proposed establishment of The Institute for Research and Development of Medical Devices in London, ON would also provide additional local licensing opportunities.