2.1. Design of IGLaST

Compared to previous medical devices using OFDI, IGLaST is for laparoscopic surgical devices that grasp a tissue or blood vessel for dissection or sealing. The proposed IGLaST comprises an optical imaging part based on the OFDI technique and a specially designed laparoscopic surgical part, as shown in Figure 1. We designed the laparoscopic surgical part to scan an optical sensing module with a linear actuator and operate the head with a handle. The optical imaging part consists of the OFDI system and an optical sensing module.

Schematic diagram of an image-guided laparoscopic surgical tool (IGLaST) based on the optical frequency domain imaging (OFDI) technique.

Because laparoscopic surgery is minimally invasive, the head size for the surgical instruments is restricted to a diameter of 5–10 mm. The optical sensing module can be simply realized by an optical fiber with a diameter of less than 0.35 mm. Such an optical fiber is inexpensive and easily separated and combined by an optical connector. Thus, OFDI can be an effective technique for realizing an image-guided disposable laparoscopic surgical tool.