Design of a Rapidly Deployable Surgical Retractor

As surgical techniques continue to evolve during the modern era of medicine, efforts have been made to maximize the potential for positive surgical outcomes. In a trauma situation, every moment of time is critical to the welfare of an injured patient. When an injured patient is brought into an operating room, room preparation and device setup time must be kept to a minimum in order to maximize the chance of a positive patient outcome. This work focuses on the development of a rapidly deployable surgical retractor that requires a fraction of the setup time required by current surgical retraction systems that have been in use for at least the past 30 years. This work represents the evolution of a new and improved surgical retractor, which was demonstrated through the development of two prototypes. Both prototypes were similar in that they each contained a motor box, an articulating arm composed of links, and a retractor blade at the end. The motor box had an electric motor and force feedback control system for Generation I (Gen-I) and a pressure-regulated, pneumatic actuator for Generation-II (Gen-II). The arm is composed of links that stack to form ball and socket joints. A central cable can be tightened by the motor box to lock the arm into virtually any configuration. The arm development was a considerable focus of this work and spanned across both Gen-I and Gen-II development. Considerations were made regarding both the strength (geometry and materials) of the arm when placed under bending load, as well as the ability for the joints to lock into place without slipping when the cable is tensioned. The distal end of the arm contains the retractor blade. For Gen-I, a Richardson style retractor was 3D printed and integrated into the end of the arm [33]. In comparison, a blade adaptor was developed for Gen-II that permits interchangeable Bookwalter retractor kit blades to be used [33]