Goal: Nerve injury is a typical complication of a fasciectomy, a surgical treatment for Dupuytren's contracture. This research focuses on the creation of a surgical device to prevent this medical complication.
Design: A mechanical feedforward-based device with a spreading and cutting mechanism was proposed. Stretching the target tissue causes a larger biomechanical difference between this tissue and the nerves. This helps to avoid damaging the nerves during the dissection phase. The DisDis prototype with a precision handling grip was develop. It uses a nitinol tube for the spreading mechanism and a conventional scalpel for the cutting mechanism.
Evaluation: The performance and ergonomics of the prototype are disappointing, compared to the conventional fasciectomy dissection method. Despite this unfavourable result, it is thought that mechanical feedforward-based devices could be still make a positive impact.