Surgical instrument and surgical system

1 . A surgical instrument to remove tissue, in particular unhealthy tissue or tissue containing cancer cells, from a body and to analyse the removed tissue, comprising:

an elongate housing;

a tissue removal device arranged at a distal end of the surgical instrument, wherein the tissue removal device is configured to remove tissue directly distally from the tissue removal device;

wherein the tissue removal device comprises a cutting device, wherein the cutting device comprises a rotatable cutting blade configured to cut slices of tissue, wherein the rotatable cutting blade is mounted on a rotatable element adapted to be driven in a rotating movement by an actuator to rotate around an axis that is perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of a discharge channel;

the discharge channel formed by a tube connected to the tissue removal device for discharge of removed tissue, wherein the discharge channel at least partially runs through the elongate housing from the distal end of the surgical instrument connected to the tissue removal device; and

a tissue analysis device comprising an analysis sensor to analyse non-removed tissue in front of the tissue removal device, wherein the tissue analysis device is configured to analyse the non-removed tissue in front of the tissue removal device based on diffuse reflectance spectroscopy in a visible wavelength region or a near infrared wavelength region, wherein the tissue analysis device is configured to provide a sensor signal representative for an analysed characteristic of the non-removed tissue, in particular for the presence of the unhealthy tissue or the cancer cells within the tissue,

wherein the tissue analysis device further comprises at least two optic fibers along a distal part of the surgical instrument to the distal end of the surgical instrument,

wherein the tissue analysis device is configured to emit light through a first optic fiber of the at least two optic fibers while receiving light through another optic fiber of the at least two optic fibers, and

wherein the distal ends of the at least two optic fibers are at opposite sides of the distal end of the surgical instrument, and

wherein the analysis sensor is arranged in a part of the elongate housing that has a larger cross section than the distal part of the surgical instrument.

2 . The surgical instrument of claim 1 , comprising a further tissue analysis device, comprising a further analysis sensor arranged to analyse the removed tissue passing through the discharge channel, wherein the further tissue analysis device is configured to provide a further sensor signal representative for a further analysed characteristic of the removed tissue, in particular for the presence of the unhealthy tissue or the cancer cells within the removed tissue, wherein the further analysis sensor is a fiber optic spectroscopy device, multispectral imaging device, hyperspectral imaging device, Raman Spectroscopy or other Raman based technology, a fluorescence spectroscopy device, a fluorescence imaging device, a fluorescence life time imaging device, a Low Coherence Tomographic system, a MicroCT imaging device or an acoustic sensor.

3 . The surgical instrument of claim 2 , wherein the further tissue analysis device is arranged in the elongate housing.

4 . The surgical instrument of claim 1 , wherein the tissue removal device comprises a suction device.

5 . The surgical instrument of claim 1 , wherein a proximal end of the discharge channel is connectable to an underpressure source to create a suction flow in the discharge channel.

6 . The surgical instrument of claim 1 , wherein the analysis sensor is a multifiber spectroscopy device.

7 . The surgical instrument of claim 1 , wherein the surgical instrument comprises one or more tracking markers arranged to enable a position tracking system to track a position of the surgical instrument.

8 . The surgical instrument of claim 1 , wherein the surgical instrument comprises a feedback device to provide a feedback signal on the basis of the sensor signal representative for the analysed characteristic of the non-removed tissue, in particular the presence of the unhealthy tissue or cancer cells within the removed tissue or the non-removed tissue.

9 . The surgical instrument of claim 1 , wherein the distal part of the surgical instrument comprises a bendable part, to adjust a position or orientation of the tissue removal device with respect to a proximal end of the surgical instrument, wherein movement of the bendable part can be controlled by an operator, wherein the surgical instrument comprises a position sensor system to determine a position of the bendable part, wherein the position sensor system comprises a relative position sensor configured to determine a position of the bendable part with respect to the proximal end of the surgical instrument.

10 . The surgical instrument of claim 1 , wherein the surgical instrument comprises at or near its distal end a tissue treatment device for treatment of the tissue before removal of the tissue, wherein the tissue treatment device comprises a cryotreatment unit, an electrocoagulation unit, an electromagnetic head for emitting radio waves, a microwave unit, a radiofrequency unit, or an electroporation unit.

11 . The surgical instrument of claim 2 , wherein the surgical instrument comprises a feedback device to provide a feedback signal on the basis of the further sensor signal representative for the analysed characteristic of the removed tissue and the sensor signal representative for the analysed characteristic of the non-removed tissue, in particular the presence of unhealthy tissue or cancer cells within the removed tissue or the non-removed tissue.

12 . The surgical instrument of claim 1 , wherein the distal part of the surgical instrument comprises a bendable part to adjust a position or orientation of the tissue removal device with respect to a proximal end of the surgical instrument, wherein movement of the bendable part can be controlled by an operator.

13 . A surgical system to remove tissue, in particular tissue containing unhealthy tissue or cancer cells, from a body and to analyse the removed tissue, comprising:

the surgical instrument of claim 1 , and

an underpressure source connected to a proximal end of the discharge channel to create a suction flow in the discharge channel.

14 . The surgical system of claim 13 , wherein the surgical instrument comprises one or more tracking markers, and wherein the surgical system comprises a position tracking system to track a position of the surgical instrument using the one or more tracking markers.

15 . The surgical system of claim 13 , wherein the surgical system comprises a central processing unit configured to monitor the removal of tissue by the surgical instrument.

16 . The surgical system of claim 13 , wherein the surgical system is a surgical robot system, wherein the surgical system comprises one or more actuators to control a position of the surgical instrument.

17 . The surgical system of claim 13 , wherein the surgical system comprises a receptacle directly or indirectly connected to the discharge channel to collect removed tissue.