Numerical evaluation method for catheter prototypes using photo-elastic stress analysis on patient-specific vascular model

• Published in: The international journal of medical robotics + computer assisted surgery Vol. 3; no. 4; pp. 349 - 354
• Main Authors: Tercero, C, Okada, Y, Ikeda, S, Fukuda, T, Sekiyama, K, Negoro, M, Takahashi, I
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chichester, UK John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 01-12-2007
• Subjects: blood vessel phantom; Blood Vessels; catheter-driving mechanisms; Catheterization - instrumentation; Catheterization - methods; Elasticity; endovascular surgery; Equipment Design; Equipment Failure Analysis - instrumentation; Equipment Failure Analysis - methods; Humans; Models, Cardiovascular; photo-elastic effect; Pilot Projects; Stress, Mechanical; vascular stress analysis
• ISSN: 1478-5951; 1478-596X
• DOI: 10.1002/rcs.166

Background
To date, no quantitative analysis has been developed to evaluate catheter performance inside the vascular lumen.
Methods
An evaluation system for endovascular tools was built with a polyurethane elastomer vascular model inside a polariscope and a catheter driving system. This robotic system reproduced a catheter insertion trajectory inside the vascular model, using a surgical catheter and three catheter prototypes used for motion capture on endovascular surgery simulation. Birefringence is produced by photo‐elastic characteristics of the polyurethane elastomer when the material is submitted external stress. The birefringence produced by the catheter on the vascular model wall was recorded and represented numerically by the correlation between consecutive frames of the registered video.
Results
Correlation values between frames showed that the performance of the prototypes was lower than that of the medical use catheter. The performance of prototypes was reduced by microcoils on their tips.
Conclusions
This methodology opens new options to evaluate medical catheters and physicians skills. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.