A laparoscopic cholecystectomy is a minimally invasive surgical procedure where the gallbladder is removed. Traditionally, this procedure is done 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. Not only does this increase time and expense due to the added surgeon, the multiple ports required increase the risk of complications. Synectic was approached to developed a dynamic laparoscopic retracting device that could both retract the liver and remove the gallbladder. The biggest challenge was that the one device needed to perform two different actions: grasp and anchor.
Synectic's solution
Synectic first performed an assessment to determine if the two types of required actions would need two different forces for application. From the assessment, it was determined that the grasper aspect would require twice as much stroke as the anchor. To address this, our mechanical engineering team incorporated additional working components into the design. Additionally, since the device required a two action fire, the design allowed for the anchor to advance as the grasper was 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, packaging was designed and developed.
The result
Complex laparascopic device that offers improved tissue manipulation by performing the dual function of both grasping and anchoring
A unique retraction system that helps increase visualization while reducing the number of ports, and surgeons, needed
