Tip protector for a surgical instrument, assembly and method

1 . A surgical instrument and tip protector assembly comprising:

a tip protector; and

the surgical instrument having a shaft extending along a longitudinal direction and an articulated instrument tip at a distal portion of the shaft, wherein the articulated instrument tip is articulated with respect to the shaft defining at least one degree of freedom;

wherein said tip protector comprises:

a tip housing for releasably receiving the articulated instrument tip;

a clamp system configured to grip a portion of the shaft to position the tip protector; and

a distal through opening at or near the distal end of the tip housing;

wherein:

said distal through opening has an adjustable opening size, so that said distal through opening can be adjusted in such way to become a through opening for at least the instrument tip, thereby making the tip protector repositionable at various locations along the shaft;

said tip protector is fitted on the shaft of the surgical instrument; and

said tip housing comprises at least one tip abutment surface, wherein the at least one tip abutment surface at least partially defines the distal through opening,

wherein the surgical instrument and tip protector assembly further comprises a control interface for controlling the adjustment of the opening size of said distal through opening,

wherein, when the articulated instrument tip is received in the tip housing, the at least one tip abutment surface abuts against the articulated instrument tip from opposite sides thereof, and the at least one tip abutment surface exerts a constraining action that positions and orients the articulated instrument tip in a predetermined configuration and blocks at least one of the degrees of freedom of said articulated instrument tip, including preventing movement with respect to the blocked at least one of the degrees of freedom of said articulated instrument tip.

2 . The assembly according to claim 1 , wherein said at least one tip abutment surface is configured to block each and all the degrees of freedom of said articulated instrument tip, so that when said articulated tip is housed within a cavity of the tip housing of the tip protector in the predetermined configuration, said constraining action exerted by the at least one tip abutment surface blocks each and all the degrees of freedom of the articulated instrument tip.

3 . The assembly according to claim 1 , wherein said at least one tip abutment surface is connected to at least one elastic element so that said constraining action is an elastic constraining action, and wherein said constraining action blocks at least one of the degrees of freedom of said articulated instrument tip even when said at least one of the degrees of freedom is actuated.

4 . The assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the tip protector comprises one or more further abutment surfaces suitable to abut against the instrument shaft of the surgical instrument, with the purpose of acting as a reference for exerting said constraining action on the articulated instrument tip.

5 . The assembly according to claim 1 , wherein said at least one tip abutment surface is connected to at least one elastic element so that said constraining action is an elastic constraining action.

6 . The assembly according to claim 1 , wherein said at least one tip abutment surface is further configured to abut against the articulated instrument tip in the longitudinal direction.

7 . The assembly according to claim 1 , comprising a locking mechanism for temporarily limiting the opening size of the distal through opening to within a predefined size opening value, which prevents the articulated instrument tip from passing through the distal through opening of the tip housing with the purpose of strengthening said constraining action.

8 . The assembly according to claim 1 , wherein said control interface comprises at least two opposite interface surfaces located opposite one another with respect to the tip housing, wherein said tip protector is made of two pieces integrally fixed to one another so that elastic arms elastically bias the respective opposite interface surfaces to protrude radially away from a centerline of the tip protector, and wherein each interface surface is connected to a respective tip half-housing by means of a respective transmission arm, and wherein the tip half-housings together define said distal through opening.

9 . The assembly according to claim 1 , wherein said clamping system comprises an anti-twist device designed to avoid relative rotation about the longitudinal direction of the tip protector with respect to the instrument shaft.

10 . The assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the articulated instrument tip has at least one degree of freedom of grip, wherein said constraining action exerted by said at least one abutment surface constrains the degree of freedom of grip in the predefined configuration.

11 . The assembly according to claim 1 , wherein the articulated instrument tip has at least one pitch degree of freedom and yaw degree of freedom, wherein said constraining action exerted by said at least one abutment surface constrains at least one of the pitch degree of freedom or the yaw degree of freedom of the articulated instrument tip in the predefined configuration.

12 . The assembly according to claim 1 , wherein said predefined configuration is a straight configuration aligned to the longitudinal direction of the instrument shaft, so that said constraining action exerted by said at least one abutment surface constrains the articulated instrument tip in a straight configuration aligned to the longitudinal direction of the instrument shaft.

13 . The assembly according to claim 1 , wherein said surgical instrument comprises one or more tendons for articulating said one or more degree of freedom of the articulated instrument tip; wherein said constraining action exerted by the at least one abutment surface blocks at least one of the degrees of freedom of said articulated instrument tip even when said one or more of said tendons apply a traction load directed to actuate at least one of the degrees of freedom of said articulated instrument tip.

14 . The assembly according to claim 5 , wherein said elastic constraining action is a self-centering constraining action.

15 . The assembly of claim 1 , wherein the opening size of the distal through opening is elastically adjustable.

16 . The assembly of claim 1 , wherein said tip protector is made of two pieces, each of said two pieces being a rigid body comprising at least one elastically flexible part.

17 . The assembly according to claim 6 , wherein the constraining action exerted by the at least one abutment surface further prevents movement with respect to a translational degree of freedom of the articulated instrument tip.

18 . The assembly according to claim 1 , wherein said tip housing comprises at least a pair of tip abutment surfaces configured to abut against the articulated instrument tip from opposite sides of the instrument tip in a direction which is transverse to the longitudinal direction of the shaft, and

wherein said tip protector is a clip having the opening size of the distal through opening elastically adjustable and the abutment surfaces elastically preloaded in closure toward each other.

19 . The assembly according to claim 1 ,

wherein the opening size of the distal through opening is adjustable and settable:

in an abutment configuration in which said tip abutment surface abuts against said articulated instrument tip when the articulated instrument tip is received within the tip housing, and

in a pass-through configuration in which at least said articulated instrument tip passes through said distal through opening,

wherein said control interface is connected to at least one transmission element that is in turn connected to at least one portion of the tip housing, so that the at least one transmission element transmits a control action from the control interface to the tip housing for adjusting the distal through opening of the tip protector,

wherein said control interface comprises at least two opposite interface surfaces located opposite one another with respect to the tip housing, wherein at least one of the at least two interface surfaces is associated with an elastic element, so that the elastic element biases said at least one of the at least two interface surfaces towards a predefined position and determines the opening size of the distal through opening to assume said abutment configuration,

wherein the at least two opposite interface surfaces are configured to be pressed towards one another with manual pressure applied by fingers of an operator, and

wherein the pressure manually applied onto said two opposite interface surfaces determines the elastic deformation of the at least one elastic element and at the same time displaces the at least one portion of the tip housing by means of said at least one respective transmission element adjusting the opening size of the distal through opening towards said pass-through configuration.

20 . The assembly according to claim 1 ,

wherein by applying a manual action onto said control interface the opening size of said distal through opening is adjustable, and

wherein, when the articulated instrument tip is received in the tip housing and when the manual action onto said control interface is released, the at least one tip abutment surface abuts against the articulated instrument tip from opposite sides thereof, and the at least one tip abutment surface exerts said constraining action.

21 . A method for constraining an articulated instrument tip of a surgical instrument with a tip protector, the surgical instrument having a shaft extending along a longitudinal direction and wherein said articulated instrument tip is at a distal portion of the shaft and is articulated with respect to the shaft defining at least one degree of freedom, the tip protector having a tip housing comprising at least one tip abutment surface and a distal through opening, the at least one tip abutment surface at least partially defining the distal through opening, the method comprises the following steps:

positioning the tip protector against a first portion of the shaft;

applying an action onto an interface of the tip protector to increase an opening size of the distal through opening of said tip protector, thereby the distal through opening becomes a through passage for at least the articulated instrument tip;

moving the tip protector along the shaft; and

repositioning a tip protector along the shaft in a position where the articulated instrument tip is received within the tip housing,

wherein the step of repositioning involves a step of releasing the action applied onto the interface of the tip protector, thereby;

abutting the at least one tip abutment surface of the tip protector against opposite sides of the articulated instrument tip in a direction, which is transversal to the longitudinal direction;

exerting, by the at least one abutment surface, a constraining action on the articulated instrument tip, the constraining action positioning and orienting the articulated instrument tip in a predetermined configuration; and

blocking, via the constraining action, at least one degree of freedom of the articulated instrument tip, comprising preventing any movement with respect to the blocked degree of freedom of the articulated instrument tip.

22 . The method according to claim 21 , wherein the action applied onto the interface of the tip protector is a manual action.