A transducer for measuring force on surgical sutures

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Surgical Technology
• Veterinary Surgery

Background:

• Accurate measurement of forces on surgical sutures is crucial for understanding surgical technique efficacy.
• Existing methods may lack precision or applicability in complex surgical scenarios.
• Laryngoplasty, a surgical procedure, relies on structural suture implants, making force measurement critical.

Purpose of the Study:

• To validate an E-type buckle force transducer for measuring forces exerted on surgical sutures.
• To assess the transducer's performance in both in vitro and ex vivo settings.
• To determine the potential of this transducer in advancing the understanding of surgical implant success and failure.

Main Methods:

• Designed and constructed a stainless steel E-type buckle force transducer incorporating a strain gauge.
• Calibrated the transducer using cyclic loading on single strands of surgical suture.
• Validated the transducer in an ex vivo cadaveric model of equine laryngoplasty.

Main Results:

• Achieved high linearity with R² values of 1.00, 0.99, and 0.99 for calibration slopes.
• Demonstrated a mean error of only 4% in predicted force over 45,846 samples.
• In vitro validation showed an adjusted R² of 0.99 for suture force versus translaryngeal pressure.

Conclusions:

• The E-type buckle force transducer exhibits highly linear output within physiological force ranges.
• The transducer is effective for measuring surgical suture forces in vitro and ex vivo.
• This validated transducer holds potential for in vivo applications to enhance knowledge of surgical techniques like laryngoplasty.