Simulation method for developing multiple-use medical devices from re-using and enhancing design of single-use device

Abstract

Single port access surgery requires several specialized and one-time use devices to perform the surgery. By making the specialized devices suitable for multiple use may reduce surgical cost and increase the popularity of single port access surgery. However, this requires a new design thinking that emphasize on modular design and sterilization. We are exploiting simulation and computational intelligence methods to aid the design process that includes splitting an existing single use device design into modules and identifying the parts from the modules for manufacturing. Linking the design of the device with manufacturing can be achieved using feature graphs. This paper relates the development of a multiple use hand instrument for single port access surgery by reusing and enhancing the design of single-use devices with the proposed simulation-based methodology. © 2013 The Authors.