Haptics for neurosurgery

Neurosurgery is challenging because brain tissue is exquisitely prone to injury and has little capacity for regeneration. Recent research has quantified the magnitude of forces applied during neurosurgical procedures and importantly, the force thresholds that cause iatrogenic injury. Whilst surgical robotic systems can be used to impose force limits during an intervention, the cost of this technology is prohibitive. I developed a hand-held smart surgical device that senses the tool-tissue forces and provides the surgeon with vibrotactile feedback to indicate when dangerous force levels are being applied. The device was validated in a series of psychophysical user studies,  cadaveric, simulated phantoms and in vivo trials, demonstrating the ability to limit the forces applied during an intervention. This device won the Imperial IGHI student challenge 2014 and was published in ABME (2015) and PlosONE (2016).