A remote-controlled vascular interventional robot: System structure and image guidance

Background: Robot-assisted vascular interventional surgery (VIS) enables the surgeon to teleoperate a catheter in a safe cabinet, such that exposure to X-ray radiation is reduced. For safe and accurate teleoperation, system structure and image guidance is important. Methods: The system structure of the developed remote-controlled vascular interventional robot (RVIR) and its image guidance system (IGS) are introduced. RVIR is based on a master-slave structure. Key technologies of IGS are addressed, including C-arm calibration, distortion correction, catheter localization and 3D vasculature reconstruction. Results: Experiments show that the RMS error of distortion correction is 0.35 pixels, and 0.53 mm for distance reconstruction. The error in catheter localization between the IGS and the encoders is small. In vitro and in vivo tests verified the feasibility of RVIR. Conclusions: Experiments indicate that the RVIR is feasible and valid to help the surgeon perform VIS remotely; the function and reconstruction accuracy of IGS can satisfy the surgeon's requirement to guide the RVIR.