Project Description:

It is extremely difficult to take good quality biopsies in the bile duct, which are needed to diagnose cancer. Once a tumor spreads outside of the bile duct, the patient’s outlook becomes much more grim – therefore, higher biopsy success rates are a critical goal in endoscopy. Our project seeks to create a fluoroscopy-guided endoscopic forceps with improved range of motion over current systems. We want to give surgeons another option in their toolbox to attack difficult-to-reach tumors and provide high quality tissue samples.