Vacuum grasping as a manipulation technique for minimally invasive surgery

BACKGROUND: Laparoscopic surgery requires specially designed instruments. Bowel tissue damage is considered one of the most serious forms of lesion, specifically perforation of the bowel. METHODS: An experimental setting was used to manipulate healthy pig bowel tissue via two vacuum instruments. During the experiments, two simple manipulations were performed for both prototypes by two experienced surgeons. Each manipulation was repeated 20 times for each prototype at a vacuum level of 60 kPa and 20 times for each prototype at a vacuum level of 20 kPa. All the manipulations were macroscopically assessed by two experienced surgeons in terms of damage to the bowel. RESULTS: In 160 observations, 63 ecchymoses were observed. All 63 ecchymoses were classified as not relevant and negligible. No serosa or seromuscular damages and no perforations were observed. CONCLUSION: Vacuum instruments such as the tested prototypes have the potential to be used as grasper instruments in minimally invasive surgery.