Optical fiber Bragg grating (FBG) force reflection sensing system of surgical tool for minimally invasive surgery

Force feedback plays a very important role in medical surgery. In minimally invasive surgery (MIS), however, long and stiff bars of surgical instruments diminish force-feedback to the surgeon. In the case of minimally invasive robotic surgery (MIRS), force-feedback is totally eliminated. Previous researchers have reported that the absence of force-feedback increased the average force magnitude applied to the tissue by at least 50%, and increased the peak force magnitude by at least a factor of two which may cause injuries on soft tissue of internal organ. Therefore, it is very important to provide force reflection information for the safe operation of MIRS. The optical fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensor has many advantages over other sensors for the application to robotic surgery. In this paper, we present the results of a study on the application of a FBG sensor to measure reflected forces in MIRS environments and suggest the possibility of successful application to MIRS systems.