Current minimally invasive laparoscopic tissue harvesting techniques for pathology purposes involve taking multiple imprecise and inaccurate biopsies, usually using a laparoscopic forceps, scissors, etc. The need for greater accuracy and potential handling hazards, e.g. cancer spread when dealing with tumorous tissue, call for a more reliable alternative in the form of a precise, easily operable laparoscopic biopsy harvester.
The aim of this project was to design a simple 5 mm wide laparoscopic instrument tip, combining a central 2 mm lumen for a glass-fiber bundle that can be used for optical measurements of tissue properties [1] with a compact frontally acting cutting device for fast, accurate and reliable mechanical biopsy of a precisely defined tissue volume that can be kept and transported in a sample storage container.
The envisioned application for the biopsy harvester would be sampling the surface of diseased internal abdominal organs and tissues. Current biopsy methods...