Aims and objectives
To develop navigation strategies based on MR imaging for an endovascular robotic platform.
Background
Vascular disease is the most common precursor to ischemic heart disease and stroke, which are two of the leading causes of death worldwide. Advances in endovascular intervention in recent years have transformed patient survival rates and post-surgical quality of life. Compared to open surgery, it has the advantages of faster recovery, reduced need for general anesthesia, reduced blood loss and significantly lower mortality. However, endovascular intervention involves complex maneuvering of pre-shaped catheters to reach target areas in the vasculature. Some endovascular tasks can be challenging for even highly-skilled operators. We are currently developing a new robotic platform for endovascular surgery incorporating novel device designs with improved imaging based on MR. The use of robotics and computer assistance in endovascular intervention aims to address some of the current clinical challenges - such as limited intra-operative navigation - with the added benefit of allowing the operator to remotely control and manipulate devices.
Brief project plan
A major challenge in endovascular procedures is the real-time recovery of both catheter and vascular anatomy pose in the 3D space. Current intra-operative imaging - 2D fluoroscopy - is not sufficient to provide enough information to the surgeon to navigate the anatomy, by providing a limited 2D representation of a 3D world. Furthermore, fluoroscopy exposes both the patient and the operators to x-ray radiations thus to ionising radiation risks.
This project aims to optimise catheter navigation through dynamic vasculature, by using MR imaging providing real time mapping of both catheter and anatomy. The goal is to estimate catheter and anatomy pose in the 3D space to improve the surgical navigation. This information will also feed the control system of our MR-safe robotic platform, to generate 3D vision-based haptic guidance under MR imaging.