First 3D printed medical robot for ENT surgery - Application specific manufacturing of laser sintered disposable manipulators

The Stapedotomy is a standard ENT (ear, nose and throat) surgery, where the surgeons use surgical micro hooks and forceps to replace the stapes with a small titanium implant. However, there are some challenges with this procedure. Especially, the non-ergonomic posture of the surgeon increases the hand tremor and leads to an inaccurate positioning of the implant. This may cause hearing loss and the patient may need a revision operation. In this paper, we present the first laser sintered disposable manipulator for ENT surgery, which allows the surgeon to move a micro hook in three directions via a joystick console, while his/her hands are located on an armrest. This may increase the surgical outcome by enhancing the ergonomics and therefore may reduce the number of revision operations. We show that the fabrication cost of the single-use robot does not increase the operation expenses drastically. To conclude, our preliminary evaluation with a middle ear phantom indicates that a basic surgical maneuver can be performed via the presented robotic system.