Systems and Methods for Detecting Physical Contact of Surgical Instrument with Patient Tissue
Summary
USPTO granted patent US12599298B2 to Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc. on April 14, 2026. The patent covers a tissue contact detection system that monitors surgical instrument temperature during procedures to detect physical contact with patient tissue and trigger mitigation operations. The patent lists three inventors: Jonathan D. Halderman, Kayla K. Anderson, and Anqi Fan, with 17 claims covering the technology.
What changed
USPTO granted patent US12599298B2 to Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc. for systems and methods of detecting physical contact between surgical instruments and patient tissue. The invention uses temperature monitoring of surgical instruments during procedures, identifying contact when temperature changes by a predetermined amount. Upon detection, the system performs a mitigation operation configured to mitigate physical contact.
Medical device manufacturers and surgical robotics developers should monitor this patent landscape. The temperature-based tissue contact detection approach could affect product development strategies and may require licensing consideration or design-around efforts to avoid infringement on these 17 claims.
What to do next
- Monitor for patent implications in surgical robotics development
- Review technology for potential licensing or design-around needs
Archived snapshot
Apr 14, 2026GovPing captured this document from the original source. If the source has since changed or been removed, this is the text as it existed at that time.
Systems and methods for detecting physical contact of a surgical instrument with patient tissue
Grant US12599298B2 Kind: B2 Apr 14, 2026
Assignee
Intuitive Surgical Operations, Inc.
Inventors
Jonathan D. Halderman, Kayla K. Anderson, Anqi Fan
Abstract
A tissue contact detection system tracks, over time during a surgical procedure, a temperature of a surgical instrument associated with a surgical system used for the surgical procedure. The system determines, based on the tracked temperature of the surgical instrument, that the temperature of the surgical instrument changes from a first temperature to a second temperature that varies from the first temperature by at least a predetermined amount, and determines, based on the determination that the temperature of the surgical instrument changes from the first temperature to the second temperature, that the surgical instrument is in physical contact with patient tissue. The system performs, in response to the determination that the surgical instrument is in physical contact with patient tissue, a mitigation operation configured to mitigate the physical contact of the surgical instrument with the patient tissue.
CPC Classifications
A61B 1/128 A61B 1/00097 A61B 1/00055 A61B 1/0655 A61B 1/00006 A61B 1/00045 A61B 1/06 A61B 5/6886
Filing Date
2020-08-20
Application No.
17636121
Claims
17
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Source
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