ROBOTIC SURGICAL TOOLS FOR LASER MARKING AND LASER CUTTING

• US 20090248041A1
• Filed: 03/31/2008
• Published: 10/01/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc. (Intuitive Surgical Holdings, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Intuitive Surgical Incorporated (Intuitive Surgical Holdings, LLC)
• Inventors: Shafer, David, Dachs, Gregory William II, Williams, Matthew Reagan
• Granted Patent: US 10,368,838 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 606/130
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 18/22 the beam being directed along or through a flexible conduit, e.g. an optical fibre; Couplings or hand-pieces therefor
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/00477 Coupling A61B2017/0046 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2018/2025 with a pilot laser
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/305 Details of wrist mechanisms at distal ends of robotic arms
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/3614 using optical fibre
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/371 with simultaneous use of two cameras
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/378 using ultrasound
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 34/30 Surgical robots
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 34/37 Master-slave robots A61B34/35 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 34/71 Manipulators operated by drive cable mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/12 in body cavities or body tracts, e.g. by using catheters catheters per se A61M25/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/445 Details of catheter construction
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/4488 the transducer being a phased array
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 90/30 Devices for illuminating a surgical field, the devices having an interrelation with other surgical devices or with a surgical procedure
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 90/361 Image-producing devices, e.g. surgical cameras

Abstract

In one embodiment of the invention, a robotic surgical system includes a combined laser imaging robotic surgical tool, a control console, and a laser generator/controller. The tool is mounted to a first robotic arm of a patient side cart. The tool has a wristed joint and an end effector coupled together. The end effector has a laser-emitting device to direct a laser beam onto tissue in a surgical site and an image-capturing device to capture images of the tissue in the surgical site. The control console, in communication with the tool, receives the captured images of tissue in the surgical site and displays the captured images on a display device to a user. The laser generator/controller is coupled to the tool and the control console to control the emission of the laser beam onto tissue of the surgical site.

Claims

1. A robotic surgical tool comprising:

a mountable housing having a base and an actuator mounted to the base, the base to mount to a robotic surgical arm to actuate the actuator;

a hollow shaft having a first end rotatably coupled to the mountable base, the hollow shaft to extend into a surgical site;

a wristed joint having a first end coupled to a second end of the hollow shaft, a second end of the wristed joint to move in response to the actuator; and

an end effector coupled to the second end of the wristed joint to concurrently move with the second end of the wristed joint, the end effector including

an enclosure having an aperture,

an imaging device mounted in the enclosure, the imaging device to capture images of a surgical site, and

a laser-emitting device mounted in the enclosure near the aperture, the laser-emitting device to emit laser light out to the surgical site through the aperture.

2. The robotic surgical tool of claim 1, wherein

the imaging device is an ultrasound probe to capture ultrasound images of the surgical site, and

the ultrasound probe includes one or more arrays of piezo-electric elements mounted in the enclosure.

3. The robotic surgical tool of claim 2, wherein

the laser-emitting device comprises an optical fiber having a first end with an optical axis aligned with the aperture to emit the laser light from the end effector.

4. The robotic surgical tool of claim 1, further comprising:

an imaging cable coupled to the mountable housing having a first end routed through the shaft and coupled to the imaging device; and

a laser cable coupled to the mountable housing to control the emission of the laser light by the laser-emitting device.

5. The robotic surgical tool of claim 4, wherein

the laser emitting device comprises an optical fiber, the optical fiber routed through the tool and the laser cable having a first end with an optical axis aligned with the aperture to emit the laser light and a second end coupled to a connector to couple to a laser generator.

6. The robotic surgical tool of claim 4, wherein

the laser emitting device comprises a laser diode to generate the laser light, the laser diode mounted in the enclosure with an optical axis aligned with the aperture to emit the laser light, and

the laser cable is an electrical cable routed through the shaft and coupled to the laser diode to control the generation of the laser light.

7. The robotic surgical tool of claim 4, wherein

the laser emitting device comprises a laser diode mounted in the mountable housing to generate the laser light and an optical fiber routed through the shaft to propagate the laser light to the aperture, the optical fiber having a first end with an optical axis aligned with the aperture to emit the laser light and a second end aligned with an optical axis of the laser diode to receive the laser light, and

the laser cable is an electrical cable coupled to the laser diode mounted in the mountable housing to control the generation of the laser light.

8. The robotic surgical tool of claim 1, further comprising:

an imaging cable receptacle mounted in the mountable housing to couple to an imaging cable connector of an external imaging cable,

an internal imaging cable having a first end coupled to the imaging cable receptacle, the internal imaging cable routed through the shaft and having a second end coupled to the imaging device;

a laser cable receptacle mounted in the mountable housing to couple to a laser cable connector of an external laser cable; and

an internal laser cable having a first end coupled to the laser cable receptacle, the internal laser cable routed through the shaft and having a second end positioned near the aperture.

9. The robotic surgical tool of claim 1, wherein

the end effector further includes

a transparent cover mounted in the aperture to seal the enclosure, the transparent cover being transparent to the laser light to allow it to pass through;

and

a lens mounted in the enclosure between the laser emitting device and the transparent cover in alignment with the optical axis, the lens to collimate or focus the laser light out through the transparent cover.

10. The robotic surgical tool of claim 1, wherein

the imaging device is a video camera to capture video images of the surgical site, and

the end effector further includes ends of one or more light emitting devices mounted in the housing, the one or more light emitting devices to emit light into the surgical site to illuminate features therein for capture by the video camera.

11. The robotic surgical tool of claim 1, wherein

the imaging device is a pair of video cameras to capture stereo video images of the surgical site,

and

the end effector further includes ends of one or more light emitting devices mounted in the housing, the one or more light emitting devices to emit light into the surgical cite to illuminate features therein for capture by the pair of video cameras.

12. A method of using robotic surgical tools, the method comprising:

capturing images of tissue in a surgical site with a first robotic surgical tool;

displaying the images on a display device;

overlaying a bulls-eye target onto the images displayed in the display device to target tissue with a laser light beam; and

energizing a laser to emit the laser light beam out of the first robotic surgical tool and directing the laser light beam onto the targeted tissue in the surgical site in response to the bulls-eye target.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

adjusting power of the laser light beam to cut tissue, and

wherein the energizing of the laser cuts tissue in the surgical site.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

adjusting power of the laser light beam to mark tissue, and

wherein the energizing of the laser marks tissue in the surgical site.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

capturing video images of tissue in the surgical site with a second robotic surgical tool;

viewing the video images including the marked tissue;

performing surgery on tissue within the surgical site using a third robotic surgical tool and a fourth robotic surgical tool in the surgical site using the video images of the marked tissue as a guide.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein

the first robotic surgical tool is controlled by a first user to mark tissue;

the second robotic surgical tool, the third robotic surgical tool, and the fourth robotic surgical tool are controlled by a second user to perform surgery on tissue within the surgical site guided by the marked tissue; and

the method further comprises pointing to anatomy in the surgical site with the second robotic surgical tool using a low power laser.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein

the captured images are ultrasound images captured by an ultrasound probe in the first robotic surgical tool and displayed onto the display device.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein

the capturing of ultrasound images includes positioning the ultrasound probe near tissue in the surgical site.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein

the capturing of ultrasound images further includes moving the ultrasound probe over the tissue to capture a plurality of ultrasound images.

20. The method of claim 12, wherein

the captured images are video images captured by at least one video camera in the first robotic surgical tool and displayed onto the display device.

21. A robotic surgical system comprising:

a combined laser imaging robotic surgical tool mounted to a first robotic arm of a patient side cart, the combined laser imaging robotic surgical tool having a wristed joint and an end effector coupled to the wristed joint, the ending effector having a laser emitting device to direct a laser beam onto tissue in a surgical site and an image capturing device to capture images of the tissue in the surgical site;

a first control console in communication with the combined laser imaging robotic surgical tool to receive the captured images of tissue in the surgical site and display the captured images on a first display device to a first user; and

a laser generator/controller coupled to the combined laser imaging robotic surgical tool and the first control console, the laser controller/generator to control the emission of the laser beam onto tissue of the surgical site by the combined laser imaging robotic surgical tool in response to a control signal.

22. The robotic surgical system of claim 21, wherein

the image-capturing device is an ultrasound probe and the captured images are ultrasound images;

and the system further includes

an ultrasound generator/controller coupled to the first control console and the combined laser imaging robotic surgical tool, the ultrasound generator/controller to generate ultrasound signals to excite the ultrasound probe to emit ultrasound waves onto the tissue in the surgical cite, the ultrasound probe to capture return ultrasound waves to generate received signals, the ultrasound generator/controller to translate the received signals into the ultrasound images for display on the first display device.

23. The robotic surgical system of claim 22, further comprising:

an endoscopic camera coupled to a second robotic arm of the patient side cart and the first control console, the endoscopic camera to capture video images of the surgical site and communicate the captured video images to the first control console; and

wherein the video images are displayed on the first display device and the ultrasound images are displayed picture-in-picture on the first display device.

24. The robotic surgical system of claim 21, wherein

the image-capturing device is a stereo video camera and the captured images are stereo video images of the surgical site.

25. The robotic surgical system of claim 21, further comprising:

a second control console in communication with the combined laser imaging robotic surgical tool to receive the captured images of tissue in the surgical site and display the captured images on a second display device to a second user;

wherein the first user to generate control signals to control the laser generator/controller and the combined laser imaging robotic surgical tool to position and emit the laser light to mark tissue such that it is visible to a video camera; and

wherein the second control console is in communication with a second robotic surgical tool coupled to a second robotic surgical arm and a third robotic surgical tool coupled to a third robotic surgical arm of the patient side cart, and the second user to perform surgery on the tissue in the surgical site in response to the marked tissue.