March 5, 2007
Development of "Force Sensor for Cerebral Aneurysm Treatment"
[ World's first force sensor for endovascular treatment in cerebral blood vessels ]
NTN corporation (hereafter, NTN), working jointly with the research team of Prof. Hideo Fujimoto in the graduate school of Nagoya Institute of Technology, has developed a force sensing system to be used in cerebral aneurysm treatment. The system measures and displays any minute force from the fingertips of a surgeon (operator) manipulating a very thin wire, which is only 0.3mm in diameter, passed through a catheter in cerebral arteries during minimally invasive treatment of aneurysms.
Minimally invasive operations are becoming more prevalent in the medical field because they use a much smaller incision than that in the past to perform the same operation. This reduces trauma of the patient along with the recovery time. An aneurysm is a bulge, or balloon, in a blood vessel normally occurring near the brain. If left untreated, these aneurysms can burst, causing subarachnoid hemorrhaging. Coil Embolization is a procedure used to occlude the cerebral aneurysm, preventing its rupture. In this operation, a catheter is inserted through a vessel near the groin and a small micro catheter is worked to the location of the aneurysm. It is necessary for the surgical operator to work this very thin wire with minute force in order not to rupture the aneurysm or blood vessel by mistake. Then platinum coils are deployed into the aneurysm filling it from within and thus preventing blood from entering the aneurysm itself.
The product developed by NTN is the world's first system that can measure and display the minute forces of the surgeon's fingertips being applied to the very thin wire. To do this, the system optically detects the displacement of the wire. This sensor has been integrated into the Y-connector that connects the catheter and the wire, to make it compatible with the conventional devices.
This system enables surgeons to operate more safely by monitoring the wire` manipulation during operation, and is expected to make the operation easier for surgeons to perform. The system allows more surgeons to easily learn and perform the operation.
This sensing system was presented at the IEEE International Conference on Sensors held in October, 2006 in Korea.
| (*) | "Cerebral aneurysm occlusion operation" |
| A plastic guide tube called a catheter is inserted into the femoral artery and guided up to the cerebral aneurysm, Then a very thin wire is inserted into the catheter tube. A special coil made of platinum is attached to the tip of the very thin wire and this coil is packed into the aneurysm to occlude the inside of the aneurysm to prevent it from rupturing. |
<Features>
| (1) | Detects the force of the surgical operator and displays that force. |
| The force applied to the very thin wire is detected optically as the displacement of the wire. | |
| (2) | Compatible with conventionally used Y-connector |
| The system can be easily used with the current equipment | |
| (3) | Disposable |
| Integrated Y-connector is disposable |
<Photos>
The model used to confirm the performance of the sensor with a replica cerebral aneurysm ,Future testing will be performed on animals and in actual surgical procedures
| (1) | Cerebral aneurysm made from silicone |
| (2) | Coil (platinum wire) |
| (3) | Control box (Display device) |
| (4) | Catheter |
| (5) | Sensor integrated with Y-connector |
| (6) | Very thin wire |
<How it Works>
<Integrated Y-Connector>
| · | Line sensor to detect wire displacement | |
| · | Only Y-Connector needs to be replaced | |
| · | No modifications required in wire or catheter | |
| · | Sensor is not in contact with wire | |
<Disposable>
| · | Controller (display device) and sensor can be separated, and sensor is constructed with low cost parts to be disposable. |