Flexible Instruments for Endovascular Interventions: Improved Magnetic Steering, Actuation, and Image-Guided Surgical Instruments

Endovascular surgery has gained broad acceptance in the last few years. The current practice of endovascular procedures is limited by factors including patient-specific operation requirements, high-risk surgery procedures, and time-consuming operations. To address this, magnetically actuated surgical catheters have been introduced to the field of surgical robotics. Recently, advances in steerable catheters and developments in magnetic steering have been studied. However, limited research has been conducted to quantify the effectiveness of magnetic actuation for catheterization procedures. Endovascular interventions employing magnetically actuated catheters deliver the promise of higher accuracy and shorter duration when compared to current, manual techniques. Moreover, they allow surgeons access to areas of cardiovascular systems that cannot be reached with standard, minimally invasive techniques.