Medical devices that contain nano and micro technologies will allow surgeons to perform familiar tasks with greater precision and safety, monitor physiological and biomechanical parameters more accurately, and perform new tasks that are not currently done.

Surgery can be physically demanding on both the surgeon and the patient. Open surgery such as heart operations can require a surgeon to make a large cut into the skin and underlying muscles, saw through breastbones, crack open the ribcage, then make delicate and high precision maneuvers with various surgical instruments. Not only can the patient incur severe pain, scarring, complications and extensive recovery time, the surgeon must be intensely focused for long hours hunched over an operating table. This can increase the chance of a surgical error due to fatigue in the neck and back, along with potentially significant hand tremors.

In various procedures, the surgeon’s view could be limited. Judgment may be required to tell whether the tissue about to be cut has the density of the intended cartilage, or alternatively, a tendon which was grabbed by mistake.

To improve surgical results benefiting both the patient and surgeon, minimally invasive surgical procedures are increasingly being done using laparoscopic techniques. Making use of small entry ports into the area of interest, a rod shaped telescope attached to a camera and other long and narrow surgical instruments are used to perform all of the major maneuvers.

Even with its considerable benefits, laparoscopic surgery causes a major shift in surgical skills that have to be mastered as the surgeon’s vision and access is severely restricted. Visual cues are obtained from a two dimensional video display instead of a three dimensional operating field. As well, the surgeon must work with long laparoscopic instruments to handle delicate tissues.