Enabling a Laparoscopic Imaging Device to Overcome the Need for Continual Clean Up

Team Members: Nasim Barzanian, Neil Ray, Sakthivel Nagaraj, Jeffrey Yang

Capstone Client: Joe Forrester, MD, MSc, Stanford University Department of Surgery

Purpose: Laparoscopic surgery relies on an unobstructed view of the inside of the body through the laparoscope camera.  Currently, when the camera is obstructed by fog, bodily fluids, or stray tissue, the surgeon must stop surgery and remove the camera from the body to clean it.  Our device uses a continuously rotating sphere on the end of the laparoscope camera to continuously clean debris and provide unobstructed images, without interfering with surgery.