Design of an endoscopic stitching device for surgical obesity treatment using a N.O.T.E.S approach

This paper proposed a design of an endoscopic stitching device for surgical obesity treatment using a N.O.T.E.S (Natural Orifice Translumenal Endoscopic Surgery) approach. This proposed N.O.T.E.S gastroplasty approach performs stitching and resizing of a stomach from inside, aiming at further reducing postoperative complications by avoiding the use of skin incisions. The presented design can be inserted into the stomach in a folded configuration and be unfolded into a working configuration to perform stitching. It uses pre-curved super-elastic NiTi (Nickel-Titanium) alloy needle to facilitate the stitching motion. Role of the NiTi needle is demonstrated in in-vitro tissue penetrating experiments, while deployment and stitching motions of this device are verified using simulations.