A Vascular Intervention Assist Device Using Bi-Motional Roller Cartridge Structure and Clinical Evaluation

Design and evaluation of vascular interventional robot system for complex coronary artery lesions

At present, most vascular intervention robots cannot cope with the more common coronary complex lesions in the clinic. Moreover, the lack of effective force feedback increases the risk of surgery. In this paper, a vascular interventional robot that can collaboratively deliver multiple interventional instruments has been developed to assist doctors in the operation of complex lesions. Based on the doctor's skills and the delivery principle of interventional instruments, the main and slave manipulators of the robot system are designed. Haptic force feedback is generated through resistance measuring mechanism and active drag system. In addition, a force feedback control strategy based on force-velocity mapping is proposed to realize the continuous change of force and avoid vibration. The proposed robot system was evaluated through a series of experiments. The experimental results show that the system can accurately measure the delivery resistance of interventional instruments, and provide haptic force feedback to doctors. The capability of the system to collaboratively deliver multiple interventional instruments is effective. Therefore, it can be considered that the robot system is feasible and effective.

Technical and Clinical Progress on Robot-Assisted Endovascular Interventions: A Review

Prior methods of patient care have changed in recent years due to the availability of minimally invasive surgical platforms for endovascular interventions. These platforms have demonstrated the ability to improve patients' vascular intervention outcomes, and global morbidities and mortalities from vascular disease are decreasing. Nonetheless, there are still concerns about the long-term effects of exposing interventionalists and patients to the operational hazards in the cath lab, and the perioperative risks that patients undergo. For these reasons, robot-assisted vascular interventions were developed to provide interventionalists with the ability to perform minimally invasive procedures with improved surgical workflow. We conducted a thorough literature search and presented a review of 130 studies published within the last 20 years that focused on robot-assisted endovascular interventions and are closely related to the current gains and obstacles of vascular interventional robots published up to 2022. We assessed both the research-based prototypes and commercial products, with an emphasis on their technical characteristics and application domains. Furthermore, we outlined how the robotic platforms enhanced both surgeons' and patients' perioperative experiences of robot-assisted vascular interventions. Finally, we summarized our findings and proposed three key milestones that could improve the development of the next-generation vascular interventional robots.

An Endovascular Catheterization Robotic System Using Collaborative Operation with Magnetically Controlled Haptic Force Feedback

Robot-assisted technology is often used to perform endovascular catheterization surgeries, which generally depend on the flexible operability and the accurate force feedback of a robotic system. In this paper, an endovascular catheterization robotic system (ECRS) was developed to improve collaborative operation and haptic force feedback. A couple of operating handles were designed to maximize the use of the natural operations of surgeons on the master side, which is a flexible and ergonomic device. A magnetically controlled haptic force feedback structure is proposed based on hydrogel and solid magnetorheological (MR) fluid to offer a sense of haptic feedback to operators; this has potential influence on the field of force feedback. In addition, a unique tremor-reduction structure is introduced to enhance operating safety. Tracking performance experiments and in vitro experiments were conducted to evaluate the performance of the developed ECRS. According to these experimental results, the average translation-tracking error is 0.94 mm, and the average error of rotation is 0.89 degrees. Moreover, in vitro experiments demonstrated that haptic feedback has the advantage of reducing workload and shortening surgery completion time. The developed ECRS also has the benefits of inspiring other researchers to study collaborative robots and magnetically controlled feedback.