Olive Medical out of Salt Lake City, Utah unveiled its HD rigid endoscope for use with the company’s fully HD camera. The endoscope is autoclavable and the company is now offering a rigid endoscope repair program that promises to repair the devices within 48 hours.

Some stated features of the endoscope from the announcement:

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Touch of Life Technologies (ToLTech), an Aurora, Colorado company that develops medical simulators, is releasing a cystoscopy simulator for practicing BOTOX injections into the detrusor muscle of the bladder.  The procedure was approved by the FDA last year as a treatment option for patients with urinary incontinence arising from neurologic conditions such as multiple sclerosis or spinal cord injury.

The simulator makes use of the Phantom haptic device from Geomagic (formerly Sensable Technologies) that provides force feedback when the virtual needle comes into contact with objects on the screen.

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Mimic Technologies, a company that builds the dV-Trainer, a da Vinci surgical robot simulator, recently released a software product to help assess how novice surgeons are using the simulator. The company has been collecting data from experienced surgeons performing various tasks on the simulator, and the MScore application is able to compare a novice user of the dv-Trainer against this data set to provide an overall performance score.

The hope is that with better in-silico training coupled with performance feedback, fewer animals will be sacrificed for this task, and patients will have better skilled surgeons working on them.

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ProUroCare Medical out of Eden Prairie, MN has been cleared in the US to sell its ProUroScan tactile elasticity imager for visualizing the prostate.

The probe employs mechanical sensors that detect the stiffness of the prostate while it’s palpated, and the data is processed and the prostate displayed on the laptop for the physician to assess.

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Aesculap, a subsidiary of B. Braun, has announced it is making available its Caiman line of surgical tools.

The devices feature unique jaw articulation for control and the company’s own algorithm that controls the energy applied to ensure a proper tissue seal.

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The advantages of endoscopic surgery are many. However, there are also drawbacks, especially for surgeons. Consider the following. Endoscopic surgery lacks fine precision due to the rigid nature of the tools. Moreover, because the surgeon is basically operating a lever (the beam being the surgical instrument and the trocar being the fulcrum), the surgeon’s movements are actually operating in opposite direction, which necessitates extensive training.

Robotic surgery has been developed concurrently with the advancement of electronic and computer technologies with a specific goal of solving some intrinsic problems of endoscopic approach. Surgical robots, such as the da Vinci, allow a surgeon to not only work remotely, but to also be able to effortlessly perform delicate procedures with his or her hands because of the robot’s ability to translate large movements by the surgeon into small movements in the corresponding instruments. However, the surgeon does not have any haptic feedback when instruments come in contact with tissue. Moreover, available surgical robots are very expensive and require a lot of space, a luxury that few hospitals have.

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Imalux out of Cleveland, Ohio received the CE Mark for the Niris 1300e tissue imaging system.  The device is used to scan epithelial tissue for signs of disease, essentially like an optical biopsy.  It relies on near-infrared optical coherence tomography which doesn’t damage the tissue it’s analyzing, while providing real-time cross-sectional visualization via the attached computer. The probe is sterilizable and can also be used inside a single-use semi-rigid sheath to minimize cleaning between patients.

More from the company:

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Integra LifeSciences received FDA clearance and is now poised to release its Jarit line of take-apart laparoscopic instruments.  They are reusable and designed for easy cleaning and sterilization, which should help with quick turnarounds and help hospitals save money in the OR.

This product line addresses the growing concerns of both hospitals and regulatory bodies about the need for instruments that can be more easily cleaned and sterilized. “These new laparoscopic patterns are an important addition to our instrument portfolio. Long, narrow cannulas and intricately fitting components are a challenge to clean, yet are necessary for minimally invasive surgery. Our new take-apart design balances ease of cleaning with surgeon preference, both of which are important goals in achieving optimal patient care,” said Dan Reuvers, President, Integra Surgical.

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CareFusion just unveiled the new Snowden-Pencer line of laparoscopic instruments.  The devices are designed for easy disassembly so that cleaning and sterilization are an easier process, making these reusable devices more competitive (and more cost-effective) than throw-aways.

The new line features smart snap-on connections and special markings to make assembly intuitive while preventing accidental disconnections so that the units stay together confidently during an operation.

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Covidien has released a few new surgical products at the annual meeting of the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons last week.  One is the Versaport bladeless optical 5 mm trocar that features a “dolphin-nose” tip with “V2 geometry” resulting in a low profile that is meant to be easy to insert through tissue.

There are also two new line extensions, 20cm and 44cm, for the LigaSure 5mm blunt tip sealer/divider.  The device seals vessels up to 7mm in size, lymphatics and tissue bundles, as well as  in two to four seconds using both pressure and energy delivery.

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