Quantification of manipulation forces needed for robot-assisted reduction of the ankle syndesmosis: an initial cadaveric study.

PURPOSE: Manual surgical manipulation of the tibia and fibula is necessary to properly align and reduce the space in ankle fractures involving sprain of the distal tibiofibular syndesmosis. However, manual reduction is highly variable and can result in malreduction in about half of the cases. Therefore, we are developing an image-guided robotic assistant to improve reduction accuracy. The purpose of this study is to quantify the forces associated with reduction of the ankle syndesmosis to define the requirements for our robot design. METHODS: Using a cadaveric specimen, we designed a fixture jig to fix the tibia securely on the operating table. We also designed a custom fibula grasping plate to which a force-torque measuring device is attached. The surgeon manually reduced the fibula utilizing this construct while translational and rotational forces along with displacement were being measured. This was first performed on an intact ankle without ligament injury and after the syndesmosis ligaments were cut. RESULTS: Six manipulation techniques were performed on the three principal directions of reduction at the cadaveric ankle. The results demonstrated the maximum force applied to the lateral direction to be 96.0 N with maximum displacement of 8.5 mm, applied to the anterior-posterior direction to be 71.6 N with maximum displacement of 10.7 mm, and the maximum torque applied to external-internal rotation to be 2.5 Nm with maximum rotation of 24.6°. CONCLUSIONS: The specific forces needed to perform the distal tibiofibular syndesmosis manipulation are not well understood. This study quantified these manipulation forces needed along with their displacement for accurate reduction of ankle syndesmosis. This is a necessary first step to help us define the design requirements of our robotic assistance from the aspects of forces and displacements.

Multimodal handheld adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscope.

Non-confocal adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (AOSLO) has enhanced the study of human retinal photoreceptors by providing complementary information to standard confocal AOSLO images. Previously we developed the first confocal handheld AOSLO (HAOSLO) capable of in vivo cone photoreceptor imaging in supine and non-cooperative patients. Here, we introduce the first multimodal (M-)HAOSLO for confocal and non-confocal split-detection (SD) imaging to allow for more comprehensive patient data collection. Aside from its unprecedented miniature size and weight, M-HAOSLO is also the first system to perform sensorless wavefront-corrected SD imaging of cone photoreceptors.