Retractor mechanics in open-surgery

Abstract

In this study, we investigate a retractor mechanics in open-surgery. Retracts are being used to acquire open space for conducting surgery. It is discovered that regardless of retractor's number, retractors should be located at the vertices of regular polygon in order to secure the largest operating space. Based on this result, retractor mechanics that describes the correlation among the operating area, retraction force, and the number of retractors is suggested. The estimated retraction forces based on retractor mechanics match well with experimental data based on the porcine skin. © 2016 IEEE.