Natural tract surgery, a new field for robotics

Michel de Mathelin obtained an engineering degree from the Université Catholique de Louvain in 1987 with La Plus Grande Distinction, as well as a Master of Sciences and a Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA, in 1988 and 1983 respectively. He became Associate Professor at the Université Louis Pasteur (Strasbourg I) in 1993 and Professor at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Physique de Strasbourg in 1999. He heads the Automatique, Vision et Robotique team, which includes 35 researchers in the field of medical robotics at the Laboratoire des Sciences de l'Image, de l'Informatique et de la Télédétection (LSIIT UMR CNRS 7005). He is coordinator of the Robotex national network of research platforms of excellence in robotics, selected as an "Equipement d'Excellence" in the Investissements d'Avenir program in 2011. Transluminal surgery, a new field for robotics: Transluminal surgery is an experimental approach in which the surgeon places a flexible endoscope in the abdominal cavity from a natural orifice, such as the mouth, through the stomach wall, in the transgastric route. The flexible endoscopes used to perform these operations have an active distal part that can be oriented in two orthogonal directions by means of two knobs on the handle. This control interface is not intuitive, and navigation to the operating area is based solely on the visual feedback provided by the endoscope camera. Transgastric surgery also requires simultaneous manipulation of the endoscope and flexible instruments in both its channels. The presence and coordination of several surgeons, one for each instrument and one for the endoscope, are essential to complete the operation. Physiological movements of the organs and the patient, such as breathing and body movements, are sources of disturbance for the flexible endoscope. Compensating for these disturbances requires highly complex coordination between vision and endoscope movement. Only a robotic approach with remote handling should enable this technique to be developed for routine clinical use.