title: Design, development and evaluation of a compact telerobotic catheter navigation system.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Remote catheter navigation systems protect interventionalists from scattered ionizing radiation. However, these systems typically require specialized catheters and extensive operator training.
  
  
  METHODS
  A new compact and sterilizable telerobotic system is described, which allows remote navigation of conventional tip-steerable catheters, with three degrees of freedom, using an interface that takes advantage of the interventionalist's existing dexterity skills. The performance of the system is evaluated ex vivo and in vivo for remote catheter navigation and ablation delivery.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The system has absolute errors of 0.1 ± 0.1 mm and 7 ± 6° over 100 mm of axial motion and 360° of catheter rotation, respectively. In vivo experiments proved the safety of the proposed telerobotic system and demonstrated the feasibility of remote navigation and delivery of ablation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The proposed telerobotic system allows the interventionalist to use conventional steerable catheters; while maintaining a safe distance from the radiation source, he/she can remotely navigate the catheter and deliver ablation lesions. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
authors.affiliation: Robarts Research Institute, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada.|Biomedical Engineering Graduate Programme, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Mohammad Ali
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Tavallaei
authors.affiliation: Robarts Research Institute, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada.|Biomedical Engineering Graduate Programme, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Gelman
authors.affiliation: Robarts Research Institute, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada.|Mechatronics Engineering Programme, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Michael Konstantine
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Lavdas
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Allan C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Skanes
authors.affiliation: Robarts Research Institute, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada.|Canadian Surgical Technologies and Advanced Robotics, London Health Sciences Centre, University Hospital, London, ON, Canada.|Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Douglas L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.affiliation: Centre of Imaging Technology Commercialization (CIMTEC), London, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Jeffrey S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Bax
authors.affiliation: Robarts Research Institute, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada.|Biomedical Engineering Graduate Programme, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada.|Department of Medical Biophysics, Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Drangova
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017115:Catheter Ablation / Q000295:instrumentation*; D057785:Catheters; D004867:Equipment Design; D008297:Male; D012371:Robotics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D013552:Swine; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000295:instrumentation*
keywords: catheterization; image-guided intervention; master-slave; medical robotics; telerobotics