Biomedical Engineering, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, Ryerson University, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Artif Organs. 2021 Jun;45(6):E171-E186. doi: 10.1111/aor.13870. Epub 2021 Jan 28.
Manual catheter-based interventions (CBIs) suffer from exposure of the interventionalists to X-ray, and dependence of their performance on the expertise and fatigue level of the interventionalists. Robot-assisted catheterization systems (RACS) have been introduced in recent years to improve the efficiency of CBIs; however, using them is still associated with some difficulties such as set-up dependency to a specific type of intervention instrument, not being portable, and offering limited options of operation modes. The objective of this research is to develop a new RACS to address these shortcomings. We propose Althea II as an improvement for our previously introduced RACS, Althea I. Althea II is designed for both research purposes and clinical applications including catheter-based cardiovascular interventions. Althea II benefits from a novel structural design leading to a significantly reduced weight and making the device inclusive for a broader range of intervention instruments. Also, a tip detection algorithm is developed and integrated into the graphical user interface (GUI) to enable image-based navigation, and accordingly, fully automatic navigation. Althea II has improved the outcome of catheter-based interventions by increased accuracy and precision of the intervention. The system can navigate the catheter tip to a designated target with an accuracy higher than 90% in both velocity and positioning mode. The device is associated with an upgraded GUI equipped with a strong tip detection algorithm with an accuracy of 0.05 mm. Moreover, Althea II gains from a quicker assembly time (20 minutes, which equals five times faster). The independency from specific catheters, several modes of function, an imaged-based feedback control, portability, and a remote function should allow operation even from beginners and reduce X-ray exposure. The preliminary research studies verified the accuracy and repeatability of Althea II, demonstrated the feasibility and applicability of using the set-up in multiple applications, and highlighted the improved set-up capabilities over the currently available RACS.
手动基于导管的介入（CBIs）会使介入专家暴露在 X 射线下，并且其性能取决于介入专家的专业知识和疲劳程度。近年来，已经引入了机器人辅助导管系统（RACS）来提高 CBIs 的效率；然而，使用它们仍然存在一些困难，例如对特定类型的介入仪器的设置依赖性、不具有便携性以及提供的操作模式选择有限。本研究的目的是开发一种新的 RACS 来解决这些缺点。我们提出 Althea II 作为对我们之前介绍的 RACS Althea I 的改进。Althea II 旨在用于研究目的和临床应用，包括基于导管的心血管介入。Althea II 受益于新颖的结构设计，重量显著减轻，使设备能够适用于更广泛的介入仪器。此外，还开发并集成了尖端检测算法到图形用户界面（GUI）中，以实现基于图像的导航，并相应地实现全自动导航。Althea II 通过提高介入的准确性和精度来改善基于导管的介入的结果。该系统可以以高于 90%的速度和定位模式准确性将导管尖端导航到指定目标。该设备与配备有强大尖端检测算法的升级版 GUI 相关联，该算法的准确性为 0.05 毫米。此外，Althea II 的组装时间更快（20 分钟，即快了五倍）。对特定导管的独立性、多种功能模式、基于图像的反馈控制、便携性和远程功能应允许即使是初学者也可以进行操作，并减少 X 射线暴露。初步研究研究验证了 Althea II 的准确性和可重复性，演示了在多种应用中使用该设置的可行性和适用性，并突出了与当前可用 RACS 相比改进的设置能力。
