Intra-Arterial Image Guidance With Optical Frequency Domain Reflectometry Shape Sensing

Area of Science:

• Interventional Radiology
• Biomedical Engineering
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Advanced hepatocellular carcinoma often requires intra-arterial therapies like trans-arterial chemoembolization.
• Current methods lack real-time 3-D visualization for precise catheter navigation within hepatic arteries.
• Selective tumor delivery of therapeutic agents remains a significant challenge.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and pre-clinically evaluate an advanced interventional guidance platform for enhanced catheter tracking.
• To utilize a distributed strain sensing device based on optical frequency-domain reflectometry (OFDR) for real-time catheter tip and shape monitoring.
• To integrate advanced imaging and sensing for improved intra-arterial procedure guidance.

Main Methods:

• Developed a fully distributed strain sensor using UV-enhanced OFDR optical fibers for accurate shape tracking.
• Created a 3-D hepatic artery roadmap using deep learning (fully convolutional and residual networks) on MR angiography.
• Combined MR angiography with 4-D flow dynamics for blood flow velocity mapping.
• Employed an anisotropic curvature matching method for mapping sensed data to pre-operative MR, with 3-D ultrasound for non-rigid deformation correction.
• Conducted experiments in controlled settings, synthetic phantoms, and porcine models.

Main Results:

• Achieved satisfactory tracking accuracy with a 3-D mean error of 2.8 ± 0.9 mm in pre-clinical tests.
• Demonstrated the feasibility of MR-compatible UV-exposed OFDR optical fibers for non-ionizing device guidance.
• Successfully mapped catheter shape and position in complex vascular structures.
• Validated the integrated guidance platform in realistic anatomical models.

Conclusions:

• The developed OFDR-based guidance platform offers precise, real-time 3-D catheter tracking for intra-arterial liver cancer therapies.
• This non-ionizing guidance system has the potential to improve therapeutic agent delivery and reduce the need for repeat hospitalizations.
• Presents a novel approach for interventional guidance, enhancing safety and efficacy in advanced hepatocellular carcinoma treatment.