Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

This proposal builds on the applicant's previous work and experience in related area. The most advanced medical equipment and professionals are generally located in urban hospitals. Under the current situation, patients in rural and remote areas travel to see a doctor at the urban hospitals, which takes hours of travel for a relatively short examination. Accurate assessment of many clinical conditions such as interpretation of the abdominal pain must be conducted by a physician. In abdominal palpation, based on standard procedures and motions, the physician touches the patient's abdomen to examine enlargement of an organ, and muscle tenderness. Palpation examination is highly dependent on the physician's skills, which are often lacking in small medical centers and isolated areas. Diagnosis of abdominal conditions for a remote patient requires research and presents technological challenges. The objective of this research is to develop, a novel robotic system to assist physicians to perform abdominal palpation on patients in remote areas. The system will consist of a novel portable robotic instrument located at the patient's site and a new haptic device located in the physician's site. The robotic device will be placed on the patient's abdomen by an on-site nurse. The device will imitate physician's hand-motion and palpate the targeted area of the abdomen. The device will measure the interaction tactile forces as well as the penetration of the robotic probe into the patient's body. The measured tactile information will be incorporated into a haptic model of targeted anatomy. The completed haptic model will be sent through a communication system to the physician's haptic device. The physician will be able to palpate the haptic device to perform the diagnosis. The outcome of this research will have a significant impact on the realization of the remote abdominal examination. The remarkable benefits of this approach will be cost-saving, increased availability of physicians, and timeliness which results in on-time diagnosis of abdominal conditions for many Canadians in remote and isolated areas.