Robot-assisted catheter manipulation for intracardiac navigation.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Manual navigation of intracardiac steerable catheters is inaccurate, requires dexterity for efficient manipulation of the catheter, and exposes the interventionalist to ionizing radiation. The objective of this research is to develop a system that replaces the interventionalists's hands in catheter manipulation for accurate and semi-automatic tele-navigation of catheters. METHODS: Based on a proposed kinematic model for the distal shaft of the catheter, a system has been developed for assisted navigation of intracardiac catheters. When the distal shaft of the catheter lies inside a cardiac chamber, a robotic apparatus is utilized for automatic steering of the catheter tip to reach designated targets within the chamber. RESULTS: The catheter modeling was validated through the experiments on three swine. The robotic system could navigate the catheter tip to designated targets with a mean distance of 6.53 mm from the target. CONCLUSION: Preliminary in vivo studies demonstrate the feasible application of the system in catheter navigation and the validity of catheter modeling and control strategies.