I-Corps: Magnetic steering and tracking for minimally invasive medical procedures

Arizona State University, Scottsdale AZ

Investigators

Abstract

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of technology that enables a vast variety of surgical/interventional procedures including intra-vascular/airways/GI tract and intra-tissue/organ procedures with minimal tissue damage and without any exposure to radiation. In particular, magnetic steering can be used in all medical procedures that involve needles or catheters such as biopsy, stent placement, balloon angioplasty, and microelectrode array placement in the brain. The tracking system can also be used along with any tethered medical device. In addition, this technology will benefit patients through eliminating human error and shorter waitlists; interventional surgeons through eliminating radiation exposure, improving catheter/needle manipulation, and enabling real-time, high-resolution, 3D tracking; and hospitals through reducing chances of adverse events and lawsuits and catching up to the demand. Thus, this system is a fit for the interventional surgical robot market as it addresses the pain points of the customers, end-users, and patients. This I-Corps project is based on the development of technology to improve catheter/needle steerability while eliminating the need for X-ray imaging and radiation exposure. The novelty of the magnetic steering technology is in replacing the conventional mechanical pushing with a magnetic pulling mechanism that significantly improves controlled tip placement and steering in the difficult-to-reach areas in the body. Moreover, there is no need for a load-bearing needle shaft and it can be made of arbitrarily soft materials. This, in turn, eliminates the excessive tissue damage and enables the steering of the catheter/needle on high-curvature 3D paths and accessing locations that are not accessible with current robotic technologies. In addition, the current technology for tracking steerable surgical tools in interventional procedures is X-ray fluoroscopy which suffers from excessive radiation exposure and the inability to capture the image of soft tissues. The proposed tracking system is designed to directly address these pain points. Besides, the tracking system contributes to the stability of the magnetic pulling mechanism by restraining the deployment speed of the catheter/needle. Thus, the proposed technology significantly improves the state-of-the-art catheter/needle steering and tracking and directly addresses the pain points of conventional technologies. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.