An in vitro investigation of image-guided steerable catheter navigation

The objective of this study is to provide catheterization with a three-dimensional (3D) guiding image and reduce the collision probability between the catheter tip and vascular wall. A bidirectional steerable catheter was integrated with two magnetic position-tracking sensors on both sides of its bending segment. The tracking information was displayed on the guiding image, which helped the surgeons to determine the relative position between the catheter tip and surrounding vessels. The navigation path was generated on the basis of the vascular skeleton. Moreover, along the path, a series of guiding circular planes were set as the guidance for the catheter. Three operations (bending, advancing, and twisting) were jointly conducted to get the catheter through these guiding planes in turn and eventually into the target vessel. The effectiveness of the proposed navigation method was verified by experiments implemented in an aorta vascular phantom. The navigation system has a mean error of 0.19 mm, a root mean square of 0.49 mm, and a standard deviation of 0.46 mm.