Catheter for sensing shape and contact force by using fbg optical fiber and catheter system therefor

Abstract

The present invention relates to a catheter comprising: a catheter body having a first area defined as a path along which at least one channel is formed and having a front end defined as a second area, the front end having a tip that is contracted by an external force applied thereto; an optical fiber comprising a plurality of FBGs inserted into the channel and arranged along the longitudinal direction of the catheter body; and an elastic member provided inside the front end so as to surround the optical fiber, the elastic member being made of a material exerting an elastic force different from the elastic force exerted by the catheter body such that an external force applied to the tip is concentrated on the front end. The plurality of FBGs sense the shape of the catheter body on the basis of optical wavelength information regarding the group of FBGs arranged in the first area, and sense the external force applied to the tip on the basis of optical wavelength information regarding thegroup of FBGs arranged in the second area. The present invention is advantageous in that the shape of the catheter can be sensed by detecting the position of bending of the catheter body, the direction thereof, the angle thereof, and the curvature thereof through a triplet calculation of information regarding three wavelengths that have undergone a transition along respective FBGs provided on three optical cores.

Description

technical field [0001] The invention relates to a catheter and a catheter system that utilizes fiber optic Bragg grating (FBG) optical fiber to sense shape and contact force, and can use light wavelength information to calculate the induction of the deformed shape of the catheter body and the contact force and direction applied to the front end of the catheter. in cardiovascular interventional surgery. Background technique [0002] In general, a catheter is a medical device used to insert a catheter into a patient's body and perform radiofrequency treatment on an affected area, or to inject medical substances into the body and to drain body fluids from the body. [0003] During the treatment with the catheter as described above, when the pointed end of the catheter exerts excessive pressure on the affected part of the patient, the affected part may be damaged. On the contrary, when the pressure of the tip of the catheter in contact with the affected part is too small, the a...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

[0015] However, the impedance-based cardiac mapping method pointed out in this non-patent literature has the following disadvantages: the accuracy of the three-dimensional image will be reduced due to electric field deformation caused by technical problems

[0017] Although there are cost advantages in utilizing the magnetic field-sensing position compared to catheter systems for fluoroscopy, this non-patent literature has the following problems: its system for obtaining accurate maps in real time is not optimized, and, when the catheter is bent , the phenomenon could not be detected in time, so until now it has been used in conjunction with traditional mapping catheters

[0018] As a result, since the electroanatomical mapping technology performs three-dimensional mapping based on the transthoracic electric field, in the actual operation process, the reference point (reference source) shaking or the electric field change may be caused by the movement of the heart and the patient's breathing, which will reduce the Anatomical precision, and the limitation of the mapping catheter is that it can only map sequentially based on contact, not simultaneously on multiple electrodes, thus, cannot be activated in unstable cardiac arrhythmias such as atrial fibrillation (Activation) Mapping

In addition, it is difficult to obtain real-time deformation information such as catheter bending by using magnetic field mapping technology, and system optimization is still a challenge

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