Micro active catheter using ICPF actuator-characteristic evaluation, electrical model and operability evaluation

The authors have proposed a new prototype model of a micro-catheter with an active guide wire that has two bending degrees of freedom using an ICPF (ionic conducting polymer film) actuator on its front end as the servo actuator. In this paper, the bending characteristics of the micro-catheter have been measured by the application of electricity in a physiological saline solution. By using simulators (whose conditions are similar to those of a body cavity), the authors also carried out simulation experiments “in vitro” and the contrast experiments of operability between the proposed catheter and conventional guide wire catheter. The experimental results indicate that the proposed micro-catheter is applicable to intracavity operations