A new microwave applicator for laparoscopic and robotic liver resection

AbstractPurpose: Bleeding from parenchyma transection during a robotic hepatic surgery remains the most critical point affecting postoperative recovery and long-term survival. Various robotic devices with different types of energies have been proposed; however, each of these lack in steerability, efficacy, or accuracy. The aim of this work is to evaluate the feasibility and performance of a new steerable microwave resection device intended for minimizing intraoperative blood loss during laparoscopic and robotic liver resections.Methods: The new device operating at 2.45 GHz was designed to accommodate the engineering constraints derived from its use for robotic surgery or laparoscopy, in which a steerable head is required and the internal cooling of forced gas or water is undesirable. The device design, analysis, and optimization were addressed using the most advanced commercial electromagnetic and thermal solvers to achieve the best results. To experimentally validate the results of the numerical analysis...