Deflectable and rotatable endoscopic instrument with intuitive control.
The problem of steering endoscopic instruments is one of the main limitations of minimally invasive surgery. Some manufacturers have developed sophisticated deflectable instruments recently, either for conventional laparoscopic surgery or for telemanipulators. The complexity of these instruments results in high cost, and difficult cleaning and sterilisation. We present a new concept of endoscopic instrument with multiple degrees of freedom, based on a miniaturised spheric articulation that can be manipulated by a single control wheel. This concept has allowed the development of a 5.5 mm instrument that can be disassembled and autoclaved. The main features of this new instrument are presented in this article.