Patent Application
20130345541
1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to electrosurgical instruments used during a surgical procedure. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to systems and methods for interrogating and/or imaging tissue using photo-acoustic signals.
2. Background of the Related Art
Energy-based tissue treatment is well known in the art. Various types of energy (e.g., electrical, ultrasonic, microwave, cryogenic, thermal, laser, etc.) are applied to tissue to achieve a desired result. Electrosurgical instruments have become widely used by surgeons in recent years. By and large, most electrosurgical instruments are hand-held instruments, e.g., electrosurgical pencils, electrosurgical forceps, endoscopic instruments such as monopolar forceps, bipolar forceps or a combination monopolar/bipolar forceps, ultrasonic hand tools, microwave probes.
After performing a surgical procedure using an electrosurgical instrument, the instrument has to be removed before a user can determine the extent of the treatment and whether additional treatment may be needed. If additional treatment is needed, the electrosurgical instrument would have to be reinserted into the patient which may cause additional concerns.
This description may use the phrases “in an embodiment,” “in embodiments,” “in some embodiments,” or “in other embodiments,” which may each refer to one or more of the same or different embodiments in accordance with the present disclosure. For the purposes of this description, a phrase in the form “A/B” means A or B. For the purposes of the description, a phrase in the form “A and/or B” means “(A), (B), or (A and B)”. For the purposes of this description, a phrase in the form “at least one of A, B, or C” means “(A), (B), (C), (A and B), (A and C), (B and C), or (A, B and C)”.
As shown in the drawings and described throughout the following description, as is traditional when referring to relative positioning on a surgical instrument, the term “proximal” refers to the end of the apparatus that is closer to the user or generator and the term “distal” refers to the end of the apparatus that is farther away from the user or generator. The term “clinician” refers to any medical professional (i.e., doctor, surgeon, nurse, or the like) performing a medical procedure involving the use of aspects of the present disclosure described herein.
Electromagnetic (EM) energy is generally classified by increasing frequency or decreasing wavelength into radio waves, microwaves, infrared, visible light, ultraviolet, X-rays and gamma-rays. As used herein, the term “microwave” generally refers to electromagnetic waves in the frequency range of 300 megahertz (MHz) (3×108 cycles/second) to 300 gigahertz (GHz) (3×1011 cycles/second). As used herein, the term “RF” generally refers to electromagnetic waves having a lower frequency than microwaves. As used herein, the term “ultrasound” generally refers to cyclic sound pressure with a frequency greater than the upper limit of human hearing. The terms “tissue” and “lumen” may be used interchangeably since it is believed that the present disclosure may be employed to seal and cut tissue or seal and cut lumens utilizing the same principles described herein.
The phrase “transmission line” generally refers to any transmission medium that can be used for the propagation of signals from one point to another.
The phrase “electrosurgical instrument” may refer to any instrument configured to output electrosurgical energy such as electrosurgical pencils, electrosurgical forceps, endoscopic instruments such as monopolar forceps, bipolar forceps or a combination monopolar/bipolar forceps, ultrasonic hand tools, and microwave probes, antennas, needles, or catheters. The phrase “electrosurgical energy” may refer to energy used to perform a surgical procedure such as electromagnetic energy or acoustic energy. The phrase “end effector” may refer to any device capable of emitting electromagnetic energy or acoustic energy to treat tissue within the vicinity of the end effector. Types of end effectors may include antennas, ultrasonic transducers, electrodes, jaw members, probes, acoustic waveguides, combinations thereof or the like.
The term “generator” may refer to a device capable of providing electrosurgical energy. Such device may include a power source and electrical components (analog and/or digital components) capable of modifying the energy outputted by the power source to output energy having a desired energy modality. The phrase “energy modality” may refer to the characteristics of the outputted electrosurgical energy. Such characteristics may include an energy mode, which includes the type of energy (e.g., RF, microwave, ultrasound, etc.) and/or waveform (e.g., sine wave, square wave, triangle wave, sawtooth wave, composite waves, etc.), and/or energy level.
The electrosurgical instruments herein may utilize one or more sensors configured to detect one or more properties of tissue and/or the ambient environment. Such properties include, but are not limited to: tissue impedance, tissue type, tissue clarity, tissue compliance, temperature of the tissue or jaw members, water content in tissue, jaw opening angle, water motility in tissue, energy delivery, and jaw closure pressure.
The electrosurgical instruments used herein may also utilize a controller to receive various inputs from a number of switches and or sensors and control the energy modality of the energy outputted by the electrosurgical instrument. The controller may include any type of computing device, computational circuit, or any type of processor or processing circuit capable of executing a series of instructions that are stored in a memory. The controller may include multiple processors and/or multicore central processing units (CPUs) and may include any type of processor, such as a microprocessor, digital signal processor, microcontroller, or the like.
Any of the herein described methods, programs, algorithms or codes may be converted to a programming language or computer program. A “Programming Language” and “Computer Program” is any-language used to specify instructions to a computer, and includes (but is not limited to) these languages and their derivatives: Assembler, Basic, Batch files, BCPL, C, C+, C++, Delphi, Fortran, lava, JavaScript, Machine code, operating system command languages, Pascal, Pearl, PU1, scripting languages, Visual Basic, metalanguages which themselves specify programs, and all first, second, third, fourth, and fifth generation computer languages. Also included are database and other data schemas, and any other meta-languages. For the purposes of this definition, no distinction is made between languages which are interpreted, compiled, or use both compiled and interpreted approaches. For the purposes of this definition, no distinction is made between compiled and source versions of a program. Thus reference to a program, where the programming language could exist in more than one state (such as source, compiled, object, or linked) is a reference to any and all states. The definition also encompasses the actual instructions and the intent of those instructions.
Any of the herein described methods, programs, algorithms or codes may be contained on one or more machine-readable media or memory. The term “memory” may include a mechanism that provides (i.e., stores and/or transmits) information in a form readable by a machine such a processor, computer, or a digital processing device. For example, a memory may include a read only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), magnetic disk storage media, optical storage media, flash memory devices, or any other volatile or non-volatile memory storage device. Code or instructions contained thereon can be represented by carrier wave signals, infrared signals, digital signals, and by other like signals.
In an embodiment of the present disclosure, an electrosurgical system is provided that includes a first energy source configured to output a first energy and an electrosurgical instrument. The electrosurgical instrument includes a transmission line coupled to the energy source and configured to emit the first energy. A mirror reflects the first energy towards a target tissue and an ultrasonic transducer receives a second energy from the target tissue. The second energy is converted into an electrical signal that is sent to a controller to convert the electrical signal into an image.
The electrosurgical instrument may also include a motor coupled to the mirror and configured to translate and/or rotate the mirror along a longitudinal axis defined through the electrosurgical instrument.
The energy source may be a laser or a microwave generator and the transmission line may be an optical fiber or an antenna. In the embodiments described herein, the electrosurgical instrument may be an ablation needle or a catheter.
In another embodiment of the present disclosure, an electrosurgical instrument is provided that includes a shaft, a first jaw member and a second jaw member both disposed at a distal end of the shaft and that grasps tissue therebetween. The electrosurgical instrument also includes an energy source configured to emit a first energy directed to a target tissue and an ultrasonic transducer configured to receive a second energy from the target tissue and convert the second energy into an electrical signal.
The energy source may be in the first jaw member while the ultrasonic transducer may be in the second jaw member. The energy source may be movable from a first position to a second position along a longitudinal axis defined in the first jaw member.
The electrosurgical instrument may also include a mirror configured to reflect the first energy from the energy source toward the target tissue. The mirror and/or ultrasonic transducer may be in the first jaw member.
The electrosurgical instrument may also include a motor configured to move the mirror relative to a longitudinal axis to translate or rotate the mirror along the longitudinal axis defined through the shaft.
In yet another embodiment of the present disclosure, the ultrasonic transducer, the minor, and the motor may be disposed in the shaft.
In another embodiment of the present disclosure, an electrosurgical instrument is provided that includes a housing and a transmission line adapted to connect to a first energy source and configured to emit a first energy. A mirror reflects the first energy towards a target tissue and an ultrasonic transducer receives a second energy from the target tissue. The second energy is converted into an electrical signal that is sent to a controller to convert the electrical signal into an image. The first energy emitted by the transmission line is different than the second energy received by the ultrasonic transducer.
The above and other aspects, features, and advantages of the present disclosure will become more apparent in light of the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
Particular embodiments of the present disclosure are described hereinbelow with reference to the accompanying drawings; however, the disclosed embodiments are merely examples of the disclosure and may be embodied in various forms. Well-known functions or constructions are not described in detail to avoid obscuring the present disclosure in unnecessary detail. Therefore, specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as a basis for the claims and as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employ the present disclosure in virtually any appropriately detailed structure. Like reference numerals may refer to similar or identical elements throughout the description of the figures.
The present disclosure is directed to electrosurgical instruments that incorporate a photo-acoustic tomography (PAT) system to image and/or interrogate tissue. PAT uses pulses of light or microwave (MW) energy to generate an acoustic wave that can be used to image tissue or measure and/or monitor physiological events in real time. PAT provides a measurement of optical contrast with an acoustic signal to overcome the diffusion limit associated with optics when interrogating tissue. In PAT, an acoustic pressure (P) is proportional to a temperature rise (ΔT) which is proportional to an optical absorption coefficient (μa) times an optical fluence rate (F). A temperature rise of 1 degree (due to absorption of optical or MW energy) generates an acoustic pressure wave of 8 mbar. The PAT system of the present disclosure can be used to image, monitor, or interrogate tissue on scales as small as the organelle level to as large as the organ level. Incorporating a PAT system into an electrosurgical device would provide, among other things, surface or subsurface imaging capabilities to determine seal quality, histological diagnosis or identification of surface or subsurface tissue structures in real time, or real-time subsurface imaging capabilities to determine the extent of the coagulative necrosis zone during a thermal ablation procedure.
Further, by incorporating a PAT system in an electrosurgical device, real-time interrogation of lymph nodes and suspicious masses for cancer detection prior to energy delivery may be accomplished. Differentiating between cancerous and benign tumors, or determining if the margins of the ablation zone are positive or negative for a residual tumor may also be performed.
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Energy 206 is reflected off of mirror 208 toward tissue “T”. As tissue “T” absorbs energy, the temperature of tissue “T” rises thereby creating an acoustic pressure wave 210. The acoustic pressure wave 210 is reflected off of mirror 208 toward an ultrasonic transducer 212. Ultrasonic transducer 212 converts the received acoustic pressure wave to an electrical signal that is transmitted to controller 110 to be processed. Controller 110 then displays a representation of the tissue “T” on display 130 based on the received electrical signal.
A micro-motor 214 is connected to mirror 208 to move mirror 208 along a longitudinal axis of an electrosurgical instrument, which will be described below, or motor 214 may rotate mirror relative to the longitudinal axis. Motor 214 may be directly coupled to mirror 208 or may be indirectly coupled to mirror 208 via a number of gears (not shown). Motor 214 may be controlled by a switch or any other actuator (not shown) or motor 214 may be controlled by controller 110 according to an algorithm stored in memory 120.
Controller 110 controls PAT system 200 in order to image and/or interrogate tissue “T”. When a user wants to image and/or interrogate tissue “T”, the user inputs a signal to controller 110 to initiate the imaging/interrogating procedure via a switch or any other actuator (not shown). Controller 110 then controls energy source 204 to emit energy through transmission line 202 to image and/or interrogate tissue “T”. Imaging/interrogating may be performed according to an algorithm stored in memory 120 that controls the duration and wavelength of the emitted energy, location of mirror 208, and rotation of mirror 208.
By scanning energy source 204 and/or ultrasonic transducer 212, a two-dimensional (2-D) image of tissue “T” may be obtained. In another embodiment, multiple wavelengths may be used to generate three-dimensional (3-D) images of tissue “T”. Additionally, multiple wavelengths may be used to monitor multiple features or events that include, but are not limited to, tissue temperature, tissue oxygen saturation, metabolic rate or oxygen uptake, hematocrit, perfusion rate, etc. The usage of multiple wavelengths to monitor multiple features is based on the optical absorption in the photoacoustic excitation phase. By using multiwavelength measurements, concentrations of multiple chromophores of different colors, such as oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin molecules in red blood cells, can be quantified. Such quantification of hemoglobin can provide functional imaging of the concentration and oxygen saturation of hemoglobin, which are related to hallmarks of cancer. For instance, the concentration of hemoglobin correlates with angiogenesis, whereas the oxygen saturation of hemoglobin correlates with hypermetabolism. Such parameters of hemoglobin can also be used to image brain activity. In addition, extrinsic optical absorption contrast agents can be used to provide molecular imaging of biomarkers.
As an example, energy source 204 may be a laser that emits light having a wavelength between 100 and 1000 nm. The light travels through transmission line 202 toward tissue “T” by reflecting the light off of mirror 208. Tissue “T” absorbs the light causing a rise in temperature of tissue “T”. The rise in temperature creates an acoustic wave 210 that is detected by ultrasonic transducer 212. Ultrasonic transducer 212 converts the received acoustic pressure wave to an electrical signal that is transmitted to controller 110, which then displays a representation of the tissue “T” on display 130 based on the received electrical signal.
Motor 214 is connected to mirror 208 to translate mirror 208 proximally or distally along the x-axis. Motor 214 also rotates mirror 208 around the x-axis to obtain a 360 degree field of view. Motor 214 may be placed proximal to the ultrasonic transducer 212 as shown in
PAT system 304 may be incorporated into a shaft 342 of ablation needles 300a or 300b. Shaft 342 may be composed of any material suitable for the transmission of light, MW energy, and/or acoustic pressure waves to and/or from tissue. For instance, materials that may be used to compose shaft 342 include, but are not limited to, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), silicone, polymethylpentene, etc.
The various embodiments disclosed herein may also be configured to work with robotic surgical systems and what is commonly referred to as “Telesurgery”. Such systems employ various robotic elements to assist the surgeon in the operating theater and allow remote operation (or partial remote operation) of the electrosurgical instruments described herein. Various robotic arms, gears, cams, pulleys, electric and mechanical motors, etc. may be employed for this purpose and may be designed with a robotic surgical system to assist the surgeon during the course of an operation or treatment. Such robotic systems may include, remotely steerable systems, automatically flexible surgical systems, remotely flexible surgical systems, remotely articulating surgical systems, wireless surgical systems, modular or selectively configurable remotely operated surgical systems, etc.
The robotic surgical systems may be employed with one or more consoles that are next to the operating theater or located in a remote location. In this instance, one team of surgeons or nurses may prep the patient for surgery and configure the robotic surgical system with one or more of the instruments disclosed herein while another surgeon (or group of surgeons) remotely control the instruments via the robotic surgical system. As can be appreciated, a highly skilled surgeon may perform multiple operations in multiple locations without leaving his/her remote console which can be both economically advantageous and a benefit to the patient or a series of patients. The one or more consoles may incorporate a display to display the imaged and/or interrogated tissue based on the signal from the PAT systems described herein.
The robotic arms of the surgical system are typically coupled to a pair of master handles by a controller. The handles can be moved by the surgeon to produce a corresponding movement of the working ends of any type of surgical instrument (e.g., end effectors, graspers, knifes, scissors, etc.) which may complement the use of one or more of the embodiments described herein. The movement of the master handles may be scaled so that the working ends have a corresponding movement that is different, smaller or larger, than the movement performed by the operating hands of the surgeon. The scale factor or gearing ratio may be adjustable so that the operator can control the resolution of the working ends of the surgical instrument(s).
The master handles may include various sensors to provide feedback to the surgeon relating to various tissue parameters or conditions, e.g., tissue resistance due to manipulation, cutting or otherwise treating, pressure by the instrument onto the tissue, tissue temperature, tissue impedance, etc. As can be appreciated, such sensors provide the surgeon with enhanced tactile feedback simulating actual operating conditions. The master handles may also include a variety of different actuators for delicate tissue manipulation or treatment further enhancing the surgeon's ability to mimic actual operating conditions.
While several embodiments of the disclosure have been shown in the drawings and/or discussed herein, it is not intended that the disclosure be limited thereto, as it is intended that the disclosure be as broad in scope as the art will allow and that the specification be read likewise. Therefore, the above description should not be construed as limiting, but merely as exemplifications of particular embodiments. The claims can encompass embodiments in hardware, software, or a combination thereof. Those skilled in the art will envision other modifications within the scope and spirit of the claims appended hereto.
The present application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/664,535, filed Jun. 26, 2012, entitled “ELECTROSURGICAL DEVICE INCORPORATING A PHOTO-ACOUSTIC SYSTEM FOR INTERROGATING/IMAGING TISSUE”, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61664535 | Jun 2012 | US |
