Pages 311-312
Guiding a catheter safely inside blood vessels to the target point is difficult. We propose a new active catheter using an eccentric silicon tube actuator. By controlling liquid pressure in the elastic eccentric tube, we can intentionally and actively bend the catheter to steadily and safely put it into the intended blood vessel at a branch. We also equip the catheter head with a micro valve that is close (open) when the liquid pressure is below (above) a threshold. With the valve, we can inject contrast medium into the blood vessel only when necessary to check the catheter condition from outside the body using X-rays. By setting the threshold over the pressure range for the eccentric tube bending, we can selectively use the actuator bending and contrast medium injection only by controlling the contrast medium liquid pressure. The prototype of the catheter and experiment results are also described.
