Modeling and Control For Minimally Invasive Intracerebral Hemorrhage Evacuation

Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is a severe type of hemorrhagic stroke that causes nearly 3 million deaths annually. Recent studies have indicated minimally invasive surgery (MIS) can improve functional outcomes in patients with lobar ICH. However, despite these promising results, challenges persist, including tool dexterity and visualization. Our group has been developing a concentric tube robot (CTR) for MR-guided ICH evacuation to address these concerns. We have demonstrated feasibility in prior ex vivo studies. However, to improve clot evacuation, better control strategies, such as closed-loop evacuation control, are needed. In this short paper, we present a modeling strategy for hybrid pneumatic-hydraulic closed-loop evacuation control that is suitable for use in the MR-environment, which requires long pneumatic (for vacuum canister regulation) and hydraulic (for hematoma evacuation) transmission lines. The control strategy is evaluated in a bench-top setting using our CTR and evacuation system. The CTR is used to evacuate an artificial hematoma at volumetric flow rates ranging from $2.5\left[\frac{{cm}^3}{min}\right]$ to $10\left[\frac{{cm}^3}{min}\right]$ . Notably, prior to steady-state, the system exhibits a mean evacuation volumetric flow rate error of $0.533\left[\frac{{cm}^3}{min}\right]$ and a steady-state mean error of $0.229\left[\frac{{cm}^3}{min}\right]$ .