Water jets for finer surgical cuts

Tools powerful enough to sever cables in the North Sea are being redesigned to replace surgical saws in operating theatres, offering greater speed and accuracy than current instruments.

Prof Joe McGeough of the School of Engineering and Electronics at Edinburgh University is working on adapting the cutting devices, which use powerful jets of water, to sever human bone and tissue.

Surgical tools have remained virtually unchanged for centuries since they are cheap and relatively easy for surgeons to use. They do, however, present a number of drawbacks that McGeough aims to overcome.

Sawing with a serrated blade can cause heat damage to surrounding tissue, killing otherwise healthy cells and inhibiting healing. It can also produce bone debris, which carries a risk of infection.

It is believed that as there is no physical contact with the patient, water jet tools would minimise trauma, avoid tissue damage and reduce blood loss.