Comparative Study of the Use of Different Sizes of an Ergonomic Instrument Handle for Laparoscopic Surgery

Previous studies have shown that the handle design of laparoscopic instruments is crucial to surgical performance and surgeon’s ergonomics. In this study, four different sizes of an ergonomic laparoscopic handle design were tested in a blind and randomized fashion with twelve surgeons. They performe...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inApplied sciences Vol. 10; no. 4; p. 1526
Main Authors Sánchez-Margallo, Juan A., González González, Alfonso, García Moruno, Lorenzo, Gómez-Blanco, J. Carlos, Pagador, J. Blas, Sánchez-Margallo, Francisco M.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Basel MDPI AG 01.02.2020
Subjects
Comparative studies
Coordination
Ergonomics
Hand eye coordination
hand pressure
Hands
instrument handle
Laparoscopy
Medical instruments
Motor ability
Muscle fatigue
Palm
parametric design
Parametric statistics
Performance evaluation
Pressure
Studies
Surgeons
Surgery
Surgical apparatus & instruments
Surgical outcomes
Universal design
Wrist
wrist posture
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Summary:Previous studies have shown that the handle design of laparoscopic instruments is crucial to surgical performance and surgeon’s ergonomics. In this study, four different sizes of an ergonomic laparoscopic handle design were tested in a blind and randomized fashion with twelve surgeons. They performed three laparoscopic tasks in order to analyze the influence of handle size. Execution time, wrist posture, and finger and palm pressure were evaluated during the performance of each task. The results show a significant reduction in the time required to complete the eye-manual coordination task using the appropriate handle. The incorrectly sized handle resulted in a rise in palm pressure and a reduction in the force exerted by the thumb during the transfer task. In the hand-eye coordination task, the use of the right handle size led to an increase in middle finger pressure. In general, surgeons had an ergonomically adequate wrist flexion in all tasks and an acceptable radio-ulnar deviation during the transfer task using the ergonomic instrument handle. Surgeons found it comfortable the use of the ergonomic handle. Therefore, the use of an appropriately sized instrument handle allows surgeons to improve ergonomics and surgical performance during the laparoscopic practice.
ISSN:2076-3417
2076-3417
DOI:10.3390/app10041526