The long-term goals of this project are to address current limitations of novel surgical technologies that use a minimally invasive approach and lack a sense of touch. The main objective is to produce a database containing quantitative information on damage to various abdominal organs as caused by compressive stresses similar to those observed during minimally invasive surgical manipulations. In vivo experiments with histological evaluation of tissue samples and computational analysis will be used to quantify tissue injury resulting from mechanical stress application, with a specific aim to identify 'threshold' stress levels that cause irreversible versus reversible tissue damage. This work is clinically relevant because it will assist surgeons to overcome the lack of touch sensation when using many novel surgical devices. For example, using this technology an advanced surgical robotic device would guide a surgeon to appropriate stress levels during tissue manipulation, translating to increased patient safety. Also, surgeon training can be enhanced by providing surgical simulators with realistic responses to organ manipulation that allow for practice and evaluation of surgical techniques with technologies that are low cost, readily available, and cause no harm.
