NOVATRACT LAPAROSCOPIC DYNAMIC RETRACTOR

Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is a minimally invasive surgical procedure to remove the gallbladder. Traditionally, this procedure involves using three ports in the patient’s abdomen and requires two surgeons: one to lift the liver and the other to remove the gall bladder. This method increases time and expense due to the added surgeon and increases the risk of complications by using multiple ports. Synectic was approached by NovaTract to develop a dynamic laparoscopic retracting device that retracts the liver and removes the gallbladder. The biggest challenge was that the same device needed to perform two different actions: grasp and anchor.

Synectic first assessed if the two types of required actions would need two different forces for application. The assessment determined that the grasper aspect would require twice as much stroke as the anchor. To address this, our medical device design team incorporated additional working components into the design. Additionally, since the device required a two-action fire, the design allowed the anchor to advance as the grasper fired. Once a solid mechanical design was in place, our industrial designers got to work minimizing the profile of the handle and shaft to allow for increased visualization and port size reduction. Finally, we designed and developed packaging.