Department of Mechanical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
Department of Cardiac Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Sci Adv. 2023 Oct 27;9(43):eadi5559. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adi5559. Epub 2023 Oct 25.
In minimally invasive endovascular procedures, surgeons rely on catheters with low dexterity and high aspect ratios to reach an anatomical target. However, the environment inside the beating heart presents a combination of challenges unique to few anatomic locations, making it difficult for interventional tools to maneuver dexterously and apply substantial forces on an intracardiac target. We demonstrate a millimeter-scale soft robotic platform that can deploy and self-stabilize at the entrance to the heart, and guide existing interventional tools toward a target site. In two exemplar intracardiac procedures within the right atrium, the robotic platform provides enough dexterity to reach multiple anatomical targets, enough stability to maintain constant contact on motile targets, and enough mechanical leverage to generate newton-level forces. Because the device addresses ongoing challenges in minimally invasive intracardiac intervention, it may enable the further development of catheter-based interventions.
在微创血管内手术中，外科医生依赖低灵巧度和高纵横比的导管来达到解剖目标。然而，跳动心脏内部的环境存在一些独特的挑战，这些挑战在少数解剖部位中很少见，这使得介入工具很难灵活地操作并在心脏内目标上施加实质性的力。我们展示了一种毫米级的软机器人平台，它可以在心脏入口处展开并自我稳定，并引导现有的介入工具到达目标部位。在右心房内的两个典型的心脏内手术中，机器人平台具有足够的灵巧性来达到多个解剖目标，足够的稳定性来保持对运动目标的持续接触，以及足够的机械杠杆作用来产生牛顿级的力。由于该设备解决了微创心脏介入中持续存在的挑战，它可能会促进基于导管的介入技术的进一步发展。
