Fiber Optic Sensorized Tools for Cardiology Applications

描述（由申请人提供）：该提案解决了涉及导管和机器人辅助微创手术工具的医疗程序中的关键问题：末端执行器缺乏灵敏度。目前的导管和机器人辅助工具为外科医生提供了前所未有的进入心脏等器官的机会。专用光学镜或光纤也可以提供手术部位的高质量视图。然而，它们不提供用于探测和消融异常组织等的触觉。生产与体内应用兼容并且足够敏感以测量精细接触力的微型传感器封装的挑战已经排除了它们的应用。我们提出了一种方法，涉及嵌入光纤布拉格光栅（FBG）传感器到微型导管的结构。当前的焦点是具有精确力反馈的射频消融导管，使医生能够精确控制头端力，不仅使病变尺寸更可预测和可控，而且还最大限度地减少血管穿孔的机会。与其他传感器相比，FBG传感器具有以下几个优点：它们具有化学惰性和物理稳定性;它们不受电磁干扰的影响，并且对小应变具有高灵敏度。位于单根光纤上的多个传感器的光学多路复用允许极其紧凑的设备设计。此外，光纤可以测量红外发射/吸收特性，并在外科医生的指尖提供新的原位临床光谱学和其他诊断工具。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This proposal addresses a critical problem in medical procedures involving catheters and robot- assisted minimally invasive surgical tooling: the lack of sensitivity at the end-effector. Current catheters and robot-assisted tools provide surgeons with unprecedented access to organs such as the heart. Specialized optical scopes or fibers can also provide a high-quality view of the operating site. However, they do not provide a sense of touch for probing and ablating abnormal tissues, etc. The challenges of producing miniature sensor packages, compatible with in-vivo applications and sufficiently sensitive to measure delicate contact forces, have precluded their application. We propose an approach that involves embedding optical fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensors into the structure of miniature catheters. The immediate focus is catheters for radiofrequency ablation with accurate force feedback allowing physicians to control tip forces precisely not only to make the lesion size more predictable and controllable, but also to minimize the chance of vascular perforation. In comparison to other sensors, FBG sensors have several advantages: they are chemically inert and physically robust; they are immune to electromagnetic interference, and they have high sensitivity to small strains. Optical multiplexing for multiple sensors located on a single fiber allows an extremely compact device design. In addition, optical fibers can measure infrared emission/absorption properties and provide novel in-situ clinical spectroscopy and other diagnostic tools at the surgeon's fingertips.