title: An active constraint environment for minimally invasive heart surgery: early experience of a cutting operation.
abstract: Master/slave telemanipulator systems can be applied in minimally invasive heart surgery. However, due to the beating heart and difficulties of finding inner points inside the heart, a surgical task operation such as cutting can be very difficult. In order to avoid surgical error, the "active constraint" concept can be applied. This paper shows an example of an "active constraint" environment used for minimally invasive heart surgery. Experiments have been carried out for a 2-DOF master and the preliminary results validate the present approach.
authors.affiliation: Mechatronics in Medicine Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Imperial College London, London UK. joao.borelli@imperial.ac.uk
authors.forename: Joao
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Borelli
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bello
authors.forename: Ferdinando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rodriguez Y Bena
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Davies
mesh_terms: D019060:Minimally Invasive Surgical Procedures / Q000379:methods*; D013903:Thoracic Surgery / Q000379:methods*; D006113:United Kingdom