Automated catheter placement system

An automated catheter placement system for safe and accurate automatic positioning and monitoring of the endoclamp balloon for minimally invasive cardiac procedures has been developed in the ARIS*ER Project.
ARIS*ER is a Marie Curie Research Training Network funded by the EU and coordinated by the Interventional Centre. It aims at developing an augmented reality system supporting minimally invasive procedures. An innovative solution for improved control of aortic clamping during minimally invasive cardiac surgery is developed and demonstrated.
Minimally invasive cardiac surgery uses small incisions in order to reduce trauma and risk of infection for the patient. Nevertheless this kind of surgery represents a great challenge for the surgeon, as visual guidance and dexterity are severely impaired.
In order to minimally invasively stop the blood to the heart, a catheter with a balloon at its tip is inserted through the aortic arch close to the aortic valve and inflated in this specific position. Movement either towards the heart or away from it can have serious consequences and so, the knowledge and control of the position of this balloon is a key issue.

In the EU FP6 project ARIS*ER - Augmented Reality in Surgery, a system to visualize and automatically control the position of the balloon catheter is developed. Using a magnetic tracking system and fusing this information with pre-operative imaging of the patient, the position of the balloon can be visualized at all times and controlled by a mechanical actuator.
The system was validated using a commercial silicon phantom and user studies performed to assess speed and accuracy of placement as well as user satisfaction.
Furthermore, studies were performed at The Interventional Centre in which the operation of the system was validated in a close-to-real surgical environment.