Trends in robot assisted endovascular catheterization technology: A review

Thirty-three years has passed since the first utilization of laparoscopic technology in surgery, yet the deployment of robots in endovascular catheterization process is currently still in its infancy. Following up some reviews by other researchers, this paper elaborates trends in robotic-assisted endovascular catheterization through literature study of published articles since the last 4 years, direct observation of on going minimally invasive endovascular intervention surgery, and discussions with an interventional cardiologist. Some important facts have been identified such as, some commercial robots have been used In Vitro, and magnetic resonance compatible slave robots as well as methods for physician skill evaluation are under development. The existing issues include miniaturization of flexible robots, side contact force sensing device for catheters, and stable haptic feedback in master robot. Some examples of interesting topics for future research are more stable and robust haptic feedback, structure and mechanism of catheter, intra-cardiac sensors, estimation methods of catheter tip states (position, angle and contact force), modeling and control methods, image sensing technology which does not yield radiation exposure yet more economically affordable, and simulator with skill assessment algorithm.