Tags:Additive Manufacturing, Catheter Design, Neurosurgery, Soft Robotic and Thermal Drawing
Abstract:
Minimally Invasive Surgery (MIS) is a procedure for diagnosis and treatment procedures in the skin and soft tissue and has seen significant growth over the last two decades due to its great benefits to surgical outcomes. Within this area of research, the first robotic ecosystem, code-name EDEN2020 (Enhanced Delivery Ecosystem for Neurosurgery in 2020), was developed to provide a clinical tool to assess the potential of Convection Enhanced Delivery (CED) of chemotherapeutics along preferential pathways that align to anisotropic brain structures. Further size reduction would be necessary for the application of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures involving deep-seated tissue structures, such as in Thermal Interstitial Laser Therapy (LiTT). Standard extrusion methods have limited capacity for complex geometry such as the PBN; therefore, thermal drawing technology is explored to reduce the overall size of MIS tools.
Towards a Procedure Optimised Steerable Microcatheter for Neurosurgical Laser Ablation