Proposal for a novel elliptical ultrasonic aspirator and its fundamental performance in cartilage removal

An ultrasonic aspirator with elliptical vibration on the end face is presented in this paper. The ultrasonic vibration relied on a specially designed Langevin transducer. The end face of the transducer was screwed into a surgical tool capable of changing amplitude, which requires resonance to provide sufficient vibration amplitude for cutting cartilage or other biological tissues. Based on the coupling of two vertical bending vibrations, the new design produced the elliptical ultrasonic vibration on the end face of the surgical tool, which differed from the axial vibration of a traditional ultrasonic aspirator. The design greatly increased the mechanical effect of the aspirator. A specially designed blade was employed to remove the cartilage tissue. A prototype device was designed to operate at 20 kHz with a displacement amplitude of 150 μm at 200 V. The measurements of the vibrational and impedance responses showed the mechanical and electrical characteristics of the aspirator. Cutting tests on mice costal cartilage were subsequently conducted. Histological analysis displayed a higher proportion of live cells in the region around the cut site, which exhibited a higher removal efficiency.