Non-Metallic MR-Guided Concentric Tube Robot for Intracerebral Hemorrhage Evacuation

Area of Science:

• Medical Robotics
• Neurosurgery
• Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Background:

• Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) presents significant treatment challenges.
• Minimally invasive evacuation techniques are crucial for improving patient outcomes.
• MRI guidance offers enhanced visualization for neurosurgical procedures.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate an MR-conditional concentric tube robot for intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) evacuation.
• To assess the feasibility and efficacy of robotic-assisted ICH removal under MRI guidance.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of a concentric tube robot using plastic tubes and MR-safe pneumatic motors.
• Development of a kinematic model using a discretized piece-wise constant curvature (D-PCC) approach.
• Implementation of a variable gain PID control algorithm for MR-safe pneumatic motors.
• Validation through bench-top, MRI, and MR-guided phantom trials for evacuation efficacy.

Main Results:

• The pneumatic motor achieved high rotational accuracy (0.32°±0.30°).
• The kinematic model provided precise tube tip positioning (1.39 ± 0.54 mm accuracy).
• The robot effectively evacuated 38.36 mL of clot, leaving a residual of 8.14 mL within 5 minutes, below the clinical guideline.

Conclusions:

• The developed robotic platform offers an effective solution for MR-guided ICH evacuation.
• This technology shows potential for future applications in live animal studies and clinical settings.