AU2021105349A4 - Surgical suture trainer - Google Patents

Abstract

OF THE DISCLOSURE (Figure 1) The present disclosure relates to the technical field of medical training instruments, and to a surgical suture trainer, including at least one training unit. Each training unit includes a needle track, a base and a connecting base, the needle track is fixed to the base, the connecting base is arranged below the base, and a connecting component is arranged on the connecting base; and a shape and an inner diameter of the needle track varies from one training unit to another. The surgical suture trainer according to the present disclosure is simple in structure and convenient to use. Through a design of the needle track and the base, shapes of human organs and different suture conditions during a surgery are simulated, so that a position and an angle of the training unit are randomly adjusted in a two-dimensional or three-dimensional space to meet suture requirements during the surgery, protect the tissue to the largest extent and enhance the suture effect, thereby effectively improving the training effect, shortening a learning curve, reducing surgical complications, and improving surgical completion quality. 1/6 DRAWINGS 4 FIGI FIG2

Description

1/6

DRAWINGS

4 FIGI

FIG2

SURGICAL SUTURE TRAINER TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present disclosure relates to the technical field of medical training

instruments, relates to a training device for surgeries, and in particular, to a trainer for

suturing under simulated surgical conditions such as different angles, positions and

needle movement trajectories.

BACKGROUNDART

[0002] Suture is one of the four basic skills among surgical skills, and is the most

difficult skill to master. Surgeries usually fall into destructive surgeries with simple

resection, anatomical reconstruction surgeries and functional reconstruction surgeries,

and difficulty and requirements thereof are increase in sequence. The latter two require

a high level of suturing skill, and the quality of the suture technology directly affects the

effect of such surgeries. In the first type of resection surgeries, the biggest difficulty is

hemostasis, and the most difficult part of hemostasis is to be completed by suturing.

Therefore, the suture is the most important skill in surgeries. In another aspect, suture,

especially the suture of deep tissues with insufficient exposure and the suture under an

endoscope in a minimally invasive surgery, is also one step that is most difficult to learn

in surgeries.

[0003] Fundamentally, the difficulty of suture is to operate needles with different

radians so that moving trajectories of the needles in a tissue conform to anatomical and

physiological characteristics of the tissue, that is, a needle with a fixed radian runs a

specific trajectory, such as a straight line, an irregular arc, or another shape. In this

process, a certain trajectory must be followed during piercing, driving and picking up of

the needle, so that this trajectory meets the physiological needs for tissues and the

pathological condition of the tissue during the operation. When the target tissue to be sutured is well exposed and located at a center position parallel to an operation centerline, the suture track is the most regular arc, suture is the easiest to do. This is the setting for common suture trainers. When the suture trajectory of the target tissue changes in a three-dimensional space and obstruction by various organs and tissues occurs between the target sutured tissue and an operating instrument, the difficulty increases to varying degrees.

[0004] The difficulty of suture in a laparoscopic surgery further increases. Due to a fixed position of an operation hole, a needle-holding instrument is fixed at one point during suturing, and the operation can be performed only around this point. Thus, the driving needle is subject to stricter restrictions, and the suture difficulty is greatly increased. In an early laparoscopic surgery, each stitch takes about half an hour and requires a special instrument for assistance. Even if today's most advanced robot-assisted laparoscope is used, and the machine itself can manipulate a needle in a three-dimensional space and can achieve, under minimally invasive conditions, a driving mode of the needle similar to that in an open surgery, the machine still needs to be operated by a person, who also needs to be trained to well master the suturing skill.

[0005] Therefore, the quality of the surgery is often limited by the quality of the suture, particularly in reconstructive surgeries, and especially in reconstructive surgeries under an endoscope, such as partial nephrectomy, urethral reconstruction of radical prostatectomy, ureteral bladder reimplantation, pyeloplasty, cholangiojejunostomy, and pancreaticojejunostomy. Poor suture will cause serious consequences such as tissue tears, narrow ducts, urine leakage, intestinal fistulas, and pancreatic fistulas. Particularly, people usually pay attention only to whether a surgery is completed, and it is difficult for people to directly evaluate the quality of the surgery. Further, the suture can be completed at any case, but the quality of suture varies from a suture to another, while the suture quality is extremely important for surgeries and patients.

[0006] Therefore, for surgeons, learning curves sutured by them are an important part of

a surgery learning curve, and the effect of the surgery performed, and a patient's

recovery are directly affected by the suture technology. In an existing suture training

system, there is a suturing step, but there is no specially designed suture trainer. As

mentioned above, gauze, emulsoid and so on are usually arranged in a straight line or a

diagonal line for suturing, which simulates a suture under the simplest conditions, and is

quite different from the actual needs in the surgery.

[0007] Specifically, current training methods lack complex needle clamping and needle

adjustment, are severely inadequate in terms of intraoperative simulation, lack training

in fine control over three-dimensional operation of a needle holder, and needle clamping

and needle adjusting at various angles and so on. Consequently, a trainee cannot

completely grasp the operation skill of the needle holder by the arms and wrists and

lacks training in fine control over clamping suture needle, adjusting suture needle,

driving suture needle, and picking up suture needle at various angles, so that the suture

training effect are hard to meet complex intraoperative requirements.

SUMMARY

[0008] In view of the shortcomings of the prior art, an objective of the embodiments is

to provide a surgical suture trainer, which is simple in structure and convenient to use.

Regarding difficulties and key points of surgical suture, needle tracks with different

shapes and inner diameters are designed, needle moving trajectories at different angles

and positions can be simulated, and different levels of difficulty are suitable for

different training stages, thereby effectively helping surgeons at different stages to

receive targeted training.

[0009] The technical solutions adopted in the present disclosure are as follows.

A surgical suture trainer includes at least one training unit. The training unit

includes a needle track, a base and a connecting base, the needle track is configured to train a trainee in suturing steps such as clamping needle, inserting needle, manipulating needle, and withdrawing needle. The needle track is fixed to the base, the connecting base is arranged beneath the base, and a connecting component is arranged on the connecting base. The connecting base is configured to connect and fix the training unit

(base) to a training platform (such as a fixed platform or an adjustment platform in a

training system). Different connection methods or connecting parts enable the training

unit to present different directions, positions, and angles, so that the position and angle

of the training unit can be randomly adjusted in a three-dimensional space, so as to

simulate the shape of a human organ and different suture conditions in a surgery, which

is beneficial to improving the quality of suture training for surgeons. A connecting

component is a connecting piece configured to connect the connecting base to the

training platform and has a variety of structural forms. For example, a fixing hole with a

specific shape (such as a gear-shaped fixing hole) is formed in the connecting base;

accordingly, a boss with a corresponding shape (such as a gear-shaped fixing rod) is

arranged on the training platform, and the base may be connected and fixed to the

training platform by inserting the boss into the fixing hole. Different bosses on the

training platform and different connection directions of the training platform with the

training unit enable the training unit to be at different positions and angles, etc. The

connecting components are the conventional means in the mechanical field and will not

be described detailedly here. Needle tracks of different training units have different

shapes and inner diameters. The needle tracks have various shapes, such as a regular arc,

an irregular arc, or even an L shape.

[0010] In some embodiments, one or more needle tracks are arranged on the base, and

the needle tracks have the same or different shapes. When one needle track is arranged

on the base, simple suture conditions during a surgery can be simulated for training.

When multiple needle tracks are arranged on the base, the shape of the base should be

adjusted accordingly to simulate shapes of different tissues and organs, such as a round

shape similar to the shape of the intestine, or other shapes similar to the shapes of

various parts or organs of the human body, so that the multiple needle tracks are combined according to a certain shape to form a combined training unit, the multiple needle tracks may have the same or different shapes.

[0011] In some embodiments, the needle tracks each have a soft body or mesh structure. The needle track is made of a soft material or a mesh material, which is conducive to repeated piercing of the suture needle.

[0012] In some embodiments, a rigid track is wrapped around the needle track, which can limit the operation of the suture needle, avoid piercing the needle track and affecting training, and can also support the needle track.

[0013] In some embodiments, the needle track and the rigid track are transparent bodies made of transparent materials, which is beneficial to observing the operation of the needle.

[0014] In some embodiments, the base is a semi-rigid structure and is made of a semi-rigid material, so that the training unit has certain elasticity and mobility. The base may be pulled during suture training, to simulate a state of tissues near a suture site being pulled during intraoperative suturing, which is beneficial to improving the training effect.

[0015] In some embodiments, the connecting base is a rigid structure, which is beneficial to connecting and fixing the training unit on other platforms.

[0016] Compared with the prior art, the present disclosure has the following beneficial effects:

[0017] 1. The surgical suture trainer according to the present disclosure is simple in structure and convenient to use and have variable needle track shapes and variable inner diameters, and can highly simulate morphological characteristics of tissues to be sutured and their suture requirements during a surgery, but an existing training system does not have such a design.

[0018] 2. By combining the base and the connecting base, with an adjusting device of a

training system, the position of the trainer can be adjusted in two-dimensional and

three-dimensional spaces, thus fully simulating a suture angle especially difficult angles

during a surgery for suture training, which solves the problems that an existing training

system simulates only a suture environment under simple conditions and is hard to

simulate suture training with high difficulties (different angles, positions and needle

moving trajectories) under complex conditions. The trainer can effectively improve the

training effect, shorten a learning curve, reduce surgical complications and improve

surgical completion quality.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0019] FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of Embodiment 1;

[0020] FIG. 2 is a schematic structural top view of Embodiment 1;

[0021] FIG. 3 is a schematic structural bottom view of Embodiment 1;

[0022] FIG. 4 is a schematic structural side view of Embodiment 1;

[0023] FIG. 5 is a schematic structural top view of a combined base of Embodiment 2;

and

[0024] FIG. 6 is a schematic structural side view of a circular combination of a plurality

of needle tracks of Embodiment 2.

[0025] In the figures: 1. needle track; 2. rigid track; 3. base; 4. connecting base; 5.

fixing hole; 6. combined base; 7. combined connecting base.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

[0026] The present disclosure will be further explained below through embodiments in

conjunction with the accompanying drawings, but they are not used as a limitation to

the present disclosure.

[0027] Embodiment 1

[0028] As shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 2, FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, a surgical suture trainer provided

by the present disclosure includes at least one training unit. The training unit includes a

needle track 1, a base 3 and a connecting base 4, the needle track 1 is designed as a

curved arc structure and is fixed to the base 3, the connecting base 4 is arranged below

the base 3, and the connecting base 4 is provided with a gear-shaped fixing hole 5

(connecting component). The needle tracks 1 of different training units have different

shapes and inner diameters. For example, the shapes of the needle tracks 1 may vary

from a regular arc to an irregular arc, or even an L shape, and thus training on driving

needle and picking up needle with various difficulties can be performed.

[0029] A training platform (such as a fixed platform or an adjustment platform in a

training system) is provided with a gear-shaped fixing rod with a corresponding shape.

By inserting the fixing rod into the fixing hole 5, the connecting base 4 may be

connected and fixed to the training platform, to present their corresponding posture. The

hole position of the fixing hole 5 in the connecting base 4 and the position of thefixing

hole 5 relative to the fixing rod are adjusted, so that the position of the trainer may be

adjusted in a two-dimensional space. When the fixing positions and angles of the fixing

rod relative to the training system are adjusted, the training unit may be loaded at

different positions and angles, i.e., the adjustment may be made in a three-dimensional

space. With the change in the shape of the needle track 1 and the adjustment of its

spatial position, the suture difficulty in a surgery can be highly simulated.

[0030] When the present disclosure is implemented, the needle track 1 and the rigid

track 2 may be made of corresponding transparent materials, which is beneficial to

observing the movement trajectories of a training suture needle and timely adjusting and

experiencing.

[0031] Embodiment 2

[0032] In the surgical suture trainer provided in the present disclosure, multiple needle tracks 1 of the training unit may be combined according to a certain shape to simulate shapes of various tissue structures. Taking a simulated circular intestinal tube as an example, as shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, the surgical suture trainer includes a combined base 6 and a combined connecting base 7. The combined connecting base 7 is arranged at the bottom of the combined base 6, and the combined base 6 is designed as a circular structure according to the shape of the intestinal tube, and a plurality of needle tracks 1 are installed in the circumferential direction, and the needle tracks 1 are wrapped in a rigid track 2. Therefore, multiple needle tracks 1 are combined into a circular structure, for simulating the intestinal tube. The needle tracks 1 may have the same or different shapes and inner diameters. The combined base 6 is also made of a semi-rigid material with a shape depending on the combined shape, and is arranged on the combined connecting base 7. The combined connecting base 7 is exactly the same as the connecting base 4 described in Embodiment 1, and the combined connecting base 7 is made of a rigid material.

[0033] A method for connecting and adjusting the combined connecting base 7 and the fixing hole 5 is the same as that of Embodiment 1, so that the position and angle can be adjusted in a three-dimensional space. Therefore, this embodiment can further simulate an intraoperative surgical scenario and suture difficulties, effectively improve the suture training effect, shorten a learning curve, and is favorable for improving the quality of suture training for surgeons.

[0034] The above are only preferred implementations of the present disclosure. It should be noted that for a person of ordinary skill in the art, several improvements and polishing may also be made without departing from the technical principle of the present disclosure, and the improvements and polishing should also be regarded as falling within the protection scope of the present disclosure.

Claims (5)

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. A surgical suture trainer, comprising at least one training unit, wherein the

training unit comprises a needle track, a base and a connecting base, the needle track is

fixed to the base, the connecting base is arranged below the base, and a connecting

component is arranged on the connecting base; and a shape and an inner diameter of the

needle track varies from one training unit to another.

2. The surgical suture trainer according to claim 1, wherein one or more needle

tracks are fixed to the base, and wherein there are a plurality of needle tracks which are

capable of being combined according to a certain shape, and the needle tracks have the

same or different shapes.

3. The surgical suture trainer according to claim 1, wherein the needle tracks each

have a transparent soft body or mesh structure.

4. The surgical suture trainer according to claim 1, wherein a transparent rigid track

is wrapped around each needle track.

5. The surgical suture trainer according to claim 1, wherein the base is a semi-rigid

structure, and wherein the connecting base is a rigid structure.