Advanced Robotics for Magnetic Manipulation: The Mobile Magnetic Vascular Surgeon

Traditionally, the success of a minimally-invasive surgical (MIS) procedure is dependent on the capabilities of the clinician. Prominent MIS procedures include vascular surgeries, during which catheters are inserted into the body, steered to a target location, and used to treat a vascular disease. A challenge in vascular surgeries is the accurate positioning of catheters in particular. Without the use of X-ray fluoroscopy, no real-time feedback of where the catheter resides in the body is possible. Generally, clinicians may opt to employ robotic systems to assist them during catheterizations. Such systems could potentially improve catheter tip control, though have not explicitly advanced the sensing or tracking of catheters. Robotic systems can also be extended to utilize serial-link robots that are designed to play essential roles in reducing the physical burden of a clinician. Thus far, few commercial serial-link surgical robots exist, as they are either expensive or offer no added value. For this reason, clinicians still mostly opt for the manual steering of catheters and visualizing them using X-ray fluoroscopy. This decision causes increased levels of ionizing radiation exposure, coupled by the loss of natural hand-eye coordination of clinicians, and reduced levels of dexterity regarding the manipulation of catheters. To alleviate this problem, methods of wireless actuation can be integrated with serial-link robots with advanced controllability that are of more value than current actuation systems
This dissertation aims to advance state-of-the-art catheterizations by integrating magnetic actuation and ultrasound imaging with collaborative robots. Such robots are intended for direct human-robot interaction in a shared space such as an operating room. The magnetic actuation of surgical instruments has already been an adopted approach that has shown potential for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. This approach is expanded by investigating whether such integration with surgical robots is clinically feasible and whether clinicians would eventually utilize such systems in the operating room. Therefore, the benefits, challenges, and future implications of a novel clinical platform based on robotics and magnetic actuation principles are discussed.