Miniature Flexible Instrument with Fibre Bragg Grating-Based Triaxial Force Sensing for Intraoperative Gastric Endomicroscopy

xlomafota.13 shared this article with you from Inoreader Miniature Flexible Instrument with Fibre Bragg Grating-Based Triaxial Force Sensing for Intraoperative Gastric Endomicroscopy Via Latest Results for Annals of Biomedical Engineering Abstract Optical biopsy methods, such as probe-based endomicroscopy, can be used to identify early-stage gastric cancer in vivo. However, it is difficult to scan a large area of the gastric mucosa for mosaicking during endoscopy. In this work, we propose a miniaturised flexible instrument based on contact-aided compliant mechanisms and fibre Bragg grating (FBG) sensing for intraoperative gastric endomicroscopy. The instrument has a compact design with an outer diameter of 2.7 mm, incorporating a central channel with a diameter of 1.9 mm for the endomicroscopic probe to pass through. Experimental results show that the instrument can achieve raster trajectory scanning over a large tissue surface with a positioning accuracy of 0.5 mm. The tip force sensor provides a 4.6 mN resolution for the axial force and 2.8 mN for transverse forces. Validation with random samples shows that the force sensor can provide consistent and accurate three-axis force detection. Endomicr oscopic imaging experiments were conducted, and the flexible instrument performed no gap scanning (mosaicking area more than 3 mm2) and contact force monitoring during scanning, demonstrating the potential of the system in clinical applications. View on the web Inoreader. Take back control of your news feed. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.