Chinese Journal of Tissue Engineering Research ›› 2023, Vol. 27 ›› Issue (16): 2609-2615.doi: 10.12307/2023.109

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Application of endovascular steerable catheter system in interventional surgery

Guo Tingting, Cui Chaoqiang, Liu Baokun, Gu Hao, Zhou Dong   

  1. Department of Vascular Surgery, Second Hospital of Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730030, Gansu Province, China
  • Received:2022-04-24 Accepted:2022-05-19 Online:2023-06-08 Published:2022-11-11
  • Contact: Zhou Dong, Associate professor, Chief physician, Master’s supervisor, Department of Vascular Surgery, Second Hospital of Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730030, Gansu Province, China
  • About author:Guo Tingting, Master candidate, Department of Vascular Surgery, Second Hospital of Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730030, Gansu Province, China
  • Supported by:
    Natural Science Foundation of Gansu Province, No. 20JR10RA721 (to ZD)

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Due to the complex and diverse shapes of blood vessels in the human body, the continuous weakening of force conduction between the handle and the tip of the steerable catheter in clinical practice often causes the tip deformation to fail the surgeon’s expectation, which makes the operation more difficult. How to achieve rapid and precise deformation of the steerable catheter tip during surgery has always attracted the attention of surgeons. In recent years, the rapid development of smart materials has made it possible to remotely control the deformation of the catheter tip outside the body.
OBJECTIVE: To review research progress of steerable catheter system in recent years in order to provide a valuable reference for the future development of the steerable catheter system.
METHODS: Articles were retrieved from Web of Science, PubMed, CNKI and Wanfang Database, and the retrieval time limit was from 1995 to 2021. All articles were initially screened by comparing the inclusion and exclusion criteria, and 41 articles were finally included for review. According to the deformation mechanism of the steerable catheter, the functional characteristics and clinical applications of the manually steerable catheter system, the magnetically driven catheter system and the soft material driven catheter system are summarized.
RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: (1) The deformation mechanisms of the steerable catheter system are various, among which: the tip of the manually manipulated catheter is operated by the distal handle, so that the force is conducted along the joystick to achieve the deformation of the tip; the magnetically driven catheter is mainly by adding a magnet part of the current or the computer-controlled permanent magnet generates a magnetic field in the patient to achieve the deformation of the tip; the soft material is used to deform the catheter tip through some stimulation such as electricity or temperature. (2) Manually manipulated catheters and magnetically driven catheters are more common in interventional surgery, but manual manipulation of catheters increases the difficulty for surgeons due to their difficulty in good control and lack of positioning accuracy. Due to the expensive cost, surgeries of magnetically driven catheters (robot catheter system) cannot be applied to all patients. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a class of steerable catheters that are inexpensive and can be precisely deformed. (3) The shape memory polymer materials are cheap and have better biocompatibility than the previous materials used in catheters, and they can be accurately deformed under some human-friendly stimulation conditions (such as temperature, humidity, magnetic field, and light) through simple programming, which has a good prospect of medical application.

Key words: catheter, blood vessel, smart material, actuation, deformation mechanism, tip, cardiovascular interventional therapy, review

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