Vibrational Cutting of Soft Tissue with Micro-serrated Surgical Scalpels

This paper reports on a preliminary study of vibrational cutting of soft tissue with micro-serrated surgical scalpels with curved blades. Although surgical scalpels are being widely used, the influence of edge geometry and blade motions during cutting remain largely unexplored. This paper is aimed at exploring the possibility of improving the cutting performance of these medical devices through laser micro-machining of serrations on their curved cutting edges, of vibratory cutting motions and their combination. Experimental studies on biological and phantom tissue will be presented to demonstrate the impact of micro-texturing and vibrational motion on the cutting efficiency of surgical scalpels. This preliminary study is intended as a basis for the future investigation of the observed responses to enhance cutting efficiency in surgical procedures.