the mission
Through recent years the medical community has seen a preferential trend towards less invasive forms of surgery, called minimally invasive surgery (MIS). MIS aims to reduce patient trauma during surgery, meaning faster recovery times and safer operation. However this aim limits a surgeon’s mobility as only a few small incisions can be made at particular locations on the patient’s body. This limitation from open surgery to MIS is very apparent when discussing methods of retraction, where the surgeon must safely displace healthy organs in order to see the field of operation. With the advancement to MIS, methods of retraction have not advanced to the same degree. Patients are facing unnecessary organ damage, longer recovery times, and additional costs associated with ineffective MIS retractor solutions. Our team has developed a method to easily insert and remove a variable-stiffness retractor into the abdomen, operable by one individual, without the need of additional incisions. This technology has the potential to reduce complications during surgery and lift MIS procedures to greater heights.
