DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT OF SYSTOSCOPE MICROMANIPULATOR FOR HYDRODYNAMIC CAVITATION BASED BIOMEDICAL APPLICATIONS

Minimally invasive surgery is a method of intervening in small openings rather than large openings to the patient's body during open surgery. In this paper, the design of the cystoscope, the experimental setup and the validation of the minimally invasive method for the urogenital system are presented. The developed cystoscope aims to abrade surface of kidney stones in the abdomen to be removed from the body and to minimize the prostate area. This is accomplished by directing the hydrodynamic cavitation tube on the cystoscope to the target region. The developed cystoscope has stainless steel ropes that can be manipulated by the Stewart platform and a flexible tip that the ropes control. In addition, there is a working channel to place the hydrodynamic cavitation tube, which provides intervention with a 2mm diameter camera and lighting system for investigation. The total diameter of the system is 10mm. The developed cystoscope has a bendable end function with 2 degrees of freedom. The end-tip can be twisted at ±40o in two degrees of freedom. Intermediate prototypes of the system were created with a 3-dimensional (3B) printer and the final prototype was produced from metal powders by DMLS (Direct Metal Laser Sintering) method. The end-tip position of the last prototype produced was found by image processing methods