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   from the issue of September 8, 2005

     
 
UNL, UNMC create surgical tool

A prototype surgical tool designed by Susan Hallbeck - an associate professor in industrial design at UNL - and a team of undergraduate and graduate engineering students, in collaboration with physicians at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, promises to be better than current models.

 
Hallbeck
 Hallbeck

Called the Intuitool, it's an articulated grasping tool that can be used by surgeons performing minimally invasive surgeries. Often called laparoscopic or keyhole surgery, minimally invasive surgery is done through small incisions. Using specialized techniques and tools, miniature cameras with microscopes, tiny fiber-optic flashlights and high definition monitors, surgeons are able to perform a growing number of operations using the technique.

The breakthrough in the Intuitool is in the articulation function - the grasper end rotates up to 120 degrees, side to side, using a roller ball the surgeon actuates with his or her thumb.

"Essentially, the Intuitool gives you a wrist on the tool," she said.

The Intuitool, patented and trademarked by UNL, has been licensed to the Minneapolis-based Gyrus Medical to develop, manufacture and market. Federal approval to use Intuitool in humans is pending.


GO TO: ISSUE OF SEPTEMBER 8

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UNL, UNMC create surgical tool

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