フィルム型三軸応力センサを用いたカテーテル操作時の指先での力計測

抄録

Catheter insertion is a sensitive operation largely depending on tactile senses of the doctor. Although several kinds of force measurement systems attached in the catheter have been proposed, the measurement of the force during operation should be measured at the finger for evaluation of the tactile senses. In this study, we developed a film type tri-axial stress sensor that can be attached to the fingertip. An electro-conductive polymer in polythiophene series was used for the pressure sensitive layer. The conductive polymer material has a characteristic that the electric resistance in the thickness direction decreases under the compression. This type sensor is thin and flexible therefore it can be expected to directly measure the contact stress at the fingertip. In this experiment, the contact stress is measured under during catheter guide wire insertion motion. The contact stress vector including vertical and the plane directional components were detected at the gripping area of the wire. The motion trajectory of the finger in the catheter insertion was analyzed in a motion capture system. As a result, changes of the contact stress according to forward, backward, and rotation in the catheter operations were observed during insertion tests. It is possible to evaluate the catheter operation by means of the tactile sensing. Also, this measurement system can be applied not only to evaluate the skill of catheter operation but also to use for training the operation.