Transformable lung positioner for thoracoscopic surgery

This paper proposes a transformable lung positioner that can pick up a lobe of a lung, which is a necessary action during thoracoscopic surgery for lung cancer. A grasping forceps is currently used for the surgery. However, it is not appropriate because of its small size contact area. The proposed transformable lung positioner has three links, each of which has a sucker attached. The links form a line in the initial position and can be inserted through a trocar. They can be transformed into a triangle inside the thoracic cavity. We conducted experiments for the validation of the transformation and suction of the positioner. In addition, we discuss the possibility of assemblable vacuum devices. We have proposed assemblable surgical devices that can be assembled inside a body cavity. Assembly enables us to design novel vacuum devices/hands that can grasp/ manipulate large internal organs with suckers.