title: A catheter side wall tactile sensor: design, modeling and experiments.
abstract: Intravascular neurosurgery is a new and important technique of minimally invasive surgery. The current surgical device, however, does not provide realistic tactile feedback, which makes the operation a very difficult task, and the surgeon must exert extreme caution in order to avoid medical accidents. In this paper, a novel tactile sensor, which is based on polyvinylidene fluoride, is developed to measure the pressure on the side wall of the catheter for intravascular neurosurgery. The relationship between the input force and the output charge signals is identified based on the composite laminate theory, shell theory and linear piezoelectric theory. The design, mathematical model, interface circuit and calibrating experiment of the tactile sensor are presented in detail. With this sensor, surgeons will be able to "feel" the contact force between the side wall of the catheter and the blood vessel. Experimental results show that the tactile sensor measures the pressure well when it contacts the side wall of blood.
authors.affiliation: Department of Systems and Computer Engineering, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Huanran
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Peter X
authors.initials: PX
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Shuxiang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Xiufen
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ye
mesh_terms: D002138:Calibration; D002404:Catheterization / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004867:Equipment Design; D005246:Feedback; D006801:Humans; D019060:Minimally Invasive Surgical Procedures / Q000295:instrumentation*; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D019635:Neurosurgical Procedures / Q000295:instrumentation; D011145:Polyvinyls / Q000737:chemistry*; D005465:Fluorocarbon Polymers
chemical_list: D011145:Polyvinyls; C024865:polyvinylidene fluoride; D005465:Fluorocarbon Polymers