A novel type of catheter sidewall tactile sensor array for vascular interventional surgery

In minimally invasive surgery, the surgeon is exposed to X-ray, threatening the surgeon´s health due to depositing long. It is important to find a method instead of using X-ray during MIS. And the force feedback is the key factor for surgeon to operate this system successfully. In this paper, we developed a novel catheter sidewall tactile sensor array, which is based on a developed robotic catheter operating system with a master-slave structure. It can detect the force information between the catheter sidewall and the blood vessel in detail, and transmitting the detected force information to surgeon by using the robotic catheter system. The calibration work of single tactile sensor array element was done. We designed a LED lights array to indicate the tactile sensor array elements which sensor contacts the blood vessel wall, and we can obtain the wave profile of the contacting force from the PC. Experimental results show that the response of developed tactile sensor array is quit sensitive, and we can easily distinguish which sensor in the tactile sensor array is contacting blood vessel wall. Based on the experimental result, we know that the developed tactile sensor array is suitable for interventional vascular surgery.