Method and system for qualifying a surgical clip applier

摘要

A method and system for qualifying a surgical clip applier with surgical clips are proposed. After successive firing operations of the surgical clip applier, an image capture unit captures sampling images associated respectively with angularly equidistant radial recesses in a rotatable clip-receiving disk for receiving anything fired from the surgical clip applier. Upon determining that each sampling image contains an individual target image portion showing a single fired surgical clip, a processing unit verifies the qualification of the surgical clip applier based on a predetermined specification and characteristic parameters obtained respectively from the individual target image portions and associated respectively with the surgical clips, which are received respectively in the radial recesses.

主权项

1. A method of qualifying a surgical clip applier to be implemented by a system, the surgical clip applier being loaded with a plurality of surgical clips and having a working tip, the system including an image capture unit, a rotatable clip-receiving disk, a driving unit and a processing unit, the clip-receiving disk being disposed under the image capture unit and formed with a plurality of angularly equidistant radial recesses, said method comprising the steps of:
a) by the driving unit, driving, in response to a firing operation of the surgical clip applier, the clip-receiving disk to rotate in a manner that one of the radial recesses adjacent to the working tip of the surgical clip applier moves to be aligned with the working tip of the surgical clip applier so as to receive anything ejected from the working tip of the surgical clip applier due to the firing operation of the surgical clip applier; b) after said one of the radial recesses moves away from the working tip of the surgical clip applier, capturing, by the image capture unit, a sampling image associated with said one of the radial recesses; c) repeating steps a) and b) until a number (N) of the sampling images have been captured by the image capture unit, where the number (N) is not greater than the number of the surgical clips loaded in the surgical clip applier and the number of the radial recesses in the clip-receiving disk; e) determining, by the processing unit, whether each of the sampling images contains only one individual target image portion snowing a single surgical clip ejected from the working tip of the surgical clip applier and received in a respective one of the radial recesses in the clip-receiving disk; e) upon determining that each of the sampling images contains the individual target image portion, obtaining, by the processing unit, from the individual target image portion of each of the sampling images, a characteristic parameter that is associated with the surgical clip received in the respective one of the radial recesses; and f) verifying, by the processing unit, the qualification of the surgical clip applier based on a predetermined specification and the characteristic parameters, which are obtained respectively from the target image portions of the sampling images.