Towards laparoscopic tissue aspiration

The soft tissue aspiration experiment has been further developed for application during laparoscopic surgery. The new setup has been tested and validated under lab-conditions and came then to in vivo operation. It is to our knowledge the first time ever a mechanical experiment has been performed under laparoscopic conditions on the human, which enables determining corresponding constitutive model equations. As most important results, the feasibility of laparoscopic tissue aspiration has been demonstrated and, based on an ad hoc parameter for the tissue stiffness, the liver and the stomach gave significantly different responses. Furthermore, the determined constitutive behavior for one healthy human liver was in line with results obtained from tissue aspiration during open surgery. Eventually, laparoscopic tissue aspiration might qualify as minimally invasive testing method for tactile feedback systems. The presented results are preliminary and more research is required.