Steerable Catheter Positioning With Anti-Buckling Support
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing robotic surgical systems face challenges in controlling flexible instruments to navigate and maneuver within a patient's body effectively, particularly when accessing tissues deep within the body via naturally occurring pathways, requiring highly controllable yet minimally sized systems.
Innovation Solution
A robotic system with an elongate instrument, such as a catheter, featuring a steerable configuration using coils and steering wires, allowing precise control over the distal section while maintaining flexibility in the proximal section, and optionally including anti-buckling devices to prevent instrument buckling during advancement.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If the distal section is made steerable using coils and steering wires, then navigation precision is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The catheter is divided into distinct sections: a distal section with steerable capabilities using coils and steering wires, and a proximal section maintaining flexibility without complex mechanisms. This segmentation allows precise navigation at the tip while keeping the overall device manageable and flexible.
Solution Approach 2:
The steerable mechanism with coils and steering wires is applied locally only to the distal section where precision navigation is needed, rather than throughout the entire catheter. This localized approach provides navigation precision where required while minimizing overall device complexity.
2Ease of operation
If the proximal section maintains flexibility for navigation, then ease of operation is improved, but structural stability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The catheter is segmented into a flexible proximal section for easy navigation and manipulation, and a more stable distal section with the steerable mechanism. This allows the proximal section to bend and flex easily during insertion while the distal section provides structural stability when positioning is required.
Solution Approach 2:
The catheter exhibits dynamic properties where the proximal section remains flexible and adaptable during insertion and navigation, while the distal section can be stabilized through the steerable mechanism when needed for precise positioning or instrument deployment.
3Reliability
If anti-buckling devices are added to prevent buckling, then reliability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The anti-buckling devices are pre-positioned along the catheter structure to prevent buckling before it occurs during advancement. This preliminary protective measure ensures reliable instrument delivery through tortuous anatomy without requiring complex active control mechanisms during the procedure.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and methods for introducing and driving flexible members in a patient's body are described herein. In one embodiment, a robotic method includes positioning a flexible elongated member that has a preformed configuration, wherein at least a part of the flexible elongated member has a first member disposed around it, and wherein the first member includes a first wire for bending the first member or for maintaining the first member in a bent configuration, releasing at least some tension in the first wire to relax the first member, and advancing the first member distally relative to the flexible elongated member while the first member is in a relaxed configuration.