Interventional Surgery Robot System Research Articles

Improved precise guidewire delivery of a cardiovascular interventional surgery robot based on admittance control.

The development of cardiovascular interventional surgery robots can realize master-slave interventional operations, which will effectively solve the problem of surgeons being injured by X-ray radiation. The delivery accuracy and safety of interventional instruments such as guidewire are the most important issues in the development of robotic systems. Most of the current control methods are position control or force feedback control, which cannot take into account delivery accuracy and safety. A cardiovascular interventional surgery robotic system integrated force sensors is developed. A novel force/position controller, which includes a radial basis function neural networks-based inner loop position controller and a force-based admittance outer loop controller, is proposed. Furthermore, a series of simulations and vascular model experiments are carried out to demonstrate the feasibility and accuracy of the proposed controller. The designed cardiovascular interventional robot is flexible to enter the target vessel branch. Experimental results indicate that the proposed controller can effectively improve the delivery accuracy of the guidewire and reduce the contact force with the vessel wall. The proposed controller based on radial basis function neural network and admittance control is effective in improving delivery accuracy and reducing contact force. The algorithm needs to be further validated in vivo experiments.

Performance Evaluation of a Vascular Interventional Surgery Robotic System with Visual-Based Force Feedback

Robot-assisted systems for vascular interventional surgery (VIS) have the advantages of high precision and an improved operating environment for the surgeon. However, the current robot-assisted systems cannot completely replace human beings in controlling interventional devices—for example, rapid guidewire/catheter replacement and force feedback. In the face of these challenges, the robot-assisted system presented in this article can better solve the above problems. The experiments for the guidewire and catheter were designed and performed separately based on the developed robot-assisted system. The experimental results show that the participants can use the system to manipulate the guidewire and catheter to reach the designated blood vessel position. Based on the experiments for the catheter, for the first time, the reciprocating manipulation method with visual-based force feedback (VFF) was used for experimental evaluation. The experimental results show that this method can effectively avoid the buckling phenomenon of the catheter; the VFF plays a vital role in improving the safety of the operation and provides an operational assessment of VIS safety. In addition, this article puts forward the evaluation index for maximum pull force (MPLF) and force fluctuation, which provides an essential reference for enriching the evaluation of VIS technical skills.

Initial experience in the treatment of lower extremity arterial occlusive disease using a universal vascular interventional surgery robotic system

BackgroundThis study aims to report the treatment process and results of the first officially published robotic peripheral vascular interventional surgery for lower extremity arterial occlusion in China. After a literature search, no domestic or foreign research reports have been found that share the same research content and innovation points. MethodsA 77-year-old female patient with intermittent claudication received drug balloon dilatation using a universal vascular interventional surgery robotic system on June 17, 2023, at Peking Union Medical College Hospital (PUMCH). ResultsWith the help of the vascular interventional robot, the operation successfully re-opened the patient's nearly occluded blood vessel, and the patient's discomfort symptoms were relieved. The total operation lasted 60 ​min, which time was similar to surgeries without robots. The postoperative hospital stay was 2 days. ConclusionThis case has preliminarily verified the effectiveness and safety of vascular interventional robotic surgery. The initial study fills in the gaps in related fields and lays a solid foundation for the future development of universal vascular interventional robots. Larger scale trials and more clinical trials are needed to test and support the clinical application of universal vascular interventional robots.

Grasping-Force-Based Passive Safety Method for a Vascular Interventional Surgery Robot System

Grasping-Force-Based Passive Safety Method for a Vascular Interventional Surgery Robot System

An Intravascular Catheter Bending Recognition Method for Interventional Surgical Robots

Robot-assisted interventional surgery can greatly reduce the radiation received by surgeons during the operation, but the lack of force detection and force feedback is still a risk in the operation which may harm the patient. In those robotic surgeries, the traditional force detection methods may have measurement losses and errors caused by mechanical transmission and cannot identify the direction of the force. In this paper, an interventional surgery robot system with a force detection device is designed and a new force detection method based on strain gauges is proposed to detect the force and infer the bending direction of the catheter in the vessel by using BP neural network. In addition, genetic algorithm is used to optimize the BP neural network, and the error between the calculated results and the actual results is reduced by 37%, which improves the accuracy of catheter bending recognition. Combining this new method with traditional force sensors not only reduces the error caused by the traditional mechanical transmission, but also can detect the bending direction of the catheter in the blood vessel, which greatly improves the safety of the operation.

Design and analysis of positioning manipulator structure for vascular interventional surgery robot system

The positioning manipulator is an important part of the minimally invasive vascular interventional surgical robot system. In order to make the surgical robot system have high safety, convenience and accuracy, this paper designs a modular light weight manipulator as a positioning manipulator, which is used to realize the positioning and movement of the propulsion device. First, according to the requirements of the operation, the degree of freedom and configuration method of the manipulator are determined, and the configuration design and parameter selection of the manipulator are completed. Then, according to the structural characteristics of the articulated robot, the D-H parameter method and the inverse transformation method are used to analyze the kinematics of the manipulator and its working space are analyzed. On this basis, the manipulator is analyzed by finite element and verified by static simulation. Finally, the positioning manipulator can realize the function of dragging in its working space by hand to achieve the target pose.

Research on a Novel Vascular Interventional Surgery Robot and Control Method Based on Precise Delivery

In a vascular interventional surgery robot system, accurately pushing the guidewire into the patient-specific branch vessel is the core step of the entire operation, so it has become the focus of the master-slave co-control of the guidewire propulsion and manipulation mechanism. Some vascular interventional surgery robots have been used for delivery of the guidewire; however, problems such as the inability to reliably clamp the guidewire and the lack of accurate force feedback prevent doctors from using robots for accurate delivery. In addition, failure to disinfect surgical robots quickly and completely increases the risk of surgery. This article introduces a new type of master-slave vascular interventional robot with reliable clamping of the catheter/guidewire, accurate perception of the lead-in force of the guidewire for precise delivery and fast disinfection. In response to the problem of the nonlinear and uncertain disturbance of the catheter/guidewire resistance affecting the delivery mechanism, an adaptive sliding controller based on master-slave tracking is designed. Through experiments and analysis of the fuzzy sliding mode controller (FSMC) experimental platform, the results show that a vascular interventional robot control system with good tracking performance and strong robustness has been designed.

A Vascular Interventional Surgical Robotic System Based on Force-Visual Feedback

In this paper, based on the previous research of our research team. We proposed a Vascular Interventional Surgical Robotic System based on Force-Visual feedback. In the process of vascular interventional surgery, it is very important to accurately detect the resistance force of surgical catheter, which can improve the safety of operation. Therefore, we developed a force sensor for the vascular interventional surgery robotic system based on the principle of resistance strain gauge bridge circuit. In addition, a complete robotic system with only force feedback is not enough. Therefore, it is necessary to combine the visual feedback interface to complete the operation. Finally, some verification experiments have been completed, including the evaluation experiment of the internal fixture of the force sensor, the calibration experiment of the force sensor, the evaluation experiment of the force sensor, the evaluation experiment of the force feedback, The axial and radial synchronous motion experiment between the master and slave side. Experimental results showed that the feasibility of the force sensor. Vascular Interventional Surgical Robotic System based on Force-Visual feedback has good performance of the force feedback and the synchronous motion between the master and slave side. There is a certain error in the synchronous motion between the master and slave side and the force feedback of the vascular interventional surgery robotic system based on Force-Visual feedback, the error is within the allowable range.

Innovative Design of Intervention Module for Vessel Intervention Surgery Robot Based on TRIZ Theory

Functional model of interventional surgery robot system is obtained based on the analysis of interventional surgery needs. Combining the original design results, functional models are further analyzed. An innovative design method of interventional surgery robot based on TRIZ theory is proposed to simply the mechanism and perfect function. The problem model is defined by using TRIZ method. System tailoring strategy based on functional model and invention principle based on conflict resolution theory are combined for solving the design problem. Then, the new structural scheme is given based on the above analyses. The synthesized structural scheme has been greatly simplified. Finally, the TRIZ theory is used to evaluate the innovative design scheme. It is concluded that the improvement of the new scheme relative to the original scheme follows the evolutionary mode of expansion and simplification of the technical system, and conforms to the evolutionary rule of the technical system.

Study of the Operational Safety of a Vascular Interventional Surgical Robotic System.

This paper proposes an operation safety early warning system based on LabView (2014, National Instruments Corporation, Austin, TX, USA) for vascular interventional surgery (VIS) robotic system. The system not only provides intuitive visual feedback information for the surgeon, but also has a safety early warning function. It is well known that blood vessels differ in their ability to withstand stress in different age groups, therefore, the operation safety early warning system based on LabView has a vascular safety threshold function that changes in real-time, which can be oriented to different age groups of patients and a broader applicable scope. In addition, the tracing performance of the slave manipulator to the master manipulator is also an important index for operation safety. Therefore, we also transformed the slave manipulator and integrated the displacement error compensation algorithm in order to improve the tracking ability of the slave manipulator to the master manipulator and reduce master–slave tracking errors. We performed experiments “in vitro” to validate the proposed system. According to previous studies, 0.12 N is the maximum force when the blood vessel wall has been penetrated. Experimental results showed that the proposed operation safety early warning system based on LabView combined with operating force feedback can effectively avoid excessive collisions between the surgical catheter and vessel wall to avoid vascular puncture. The force feedback error of the proposed system is maintained between ±20 mN, which is within the allowable safety range and meets our design requirements. Therefore, the proposed system can ensure the safety of surgery.

Operation and force analysis of the guide wire in a minimally invasive vascular interventional surgery robot system

To develop a robot system for minimally invasive surgery is significant, however the existing minimally invasive surgery robots are not applicable in practical operations, due to their limited functioning and weaker perception. A novel wire feeder is proposed for minimally invasive vascular interventional surgery. It is used for assisting surgeons in delivering a guide wire, balloon and stenting into a specific lesion location. By contrasting those existing wire feeders, the motion methods for delivering and rotating the guide wire in blood vessel are described, and their mechanical realization is presented. A new resistant force detecting method is given in details. The change of the resistance force can help the operator feel the block or embolism existing in front of the guide wire. The driving torque for rotating the guide wire is developed at different positions. Using the CT reconstruction image and extracted vessel paths, the path equation of the blood vessel is obtained. Combining the shapes of the guide wire outside the blood vessel, the whole bending equation of the guide wire is obtained. That is a risk criterion in the delivering process. This process can make operations safer and man-machine interaction more reliable. A novel surgery robot for feeding guide wire is designed, and a risk criterion for the system is given.

Fuzzy Fusion of Forces Feedback in Vascular Interventional Surgery Robot System

In order to consummate the master-slave robot system used in vascular interventional procedures,a closed loop of force is rebuilt.Two micro force sensors are integrated with a catheter,which can measure those forces between the tip or side wall of the catheter and vascular walls respectively at the same time.Given that the master-slave mode is different from the traditional hands-on operation and that it is necessary to ensure the sustained effect of the valuable experience from surgeons,a two-input one-output model in fuzzy inference is adopted to accomplish the fusion of the two sensors’ data.By means of calibrating membership functions and establishing a table of fusion rules,experience is converted into numerical strategies about the force feedback,which not only improves the force reflection under low sampling rate,but also characterizes collisions accurately with different resolutions.It ensures the safety,applicability and efficiency of the robot system.