Micro vibrations-based Friction Reduction Evaluation of Guide Wire for Endovascular Interventional Application

In endovascular interventional surgery, doctors usually experience high friction resistance when operating the guide wire in blood vessels, resulting from direct contact with vascular wall, which reduces operational efficiency. Improper operation can cause vascular injuries and reduce the surgical safety greatly, sometimes leading to the death of the patient. This paper presents a new method that applies radial micro vibrations at the proximal end of a conventional passive guide wire, to reduce the friction resistance. The mechanical model of guide wire vibration is established and the kinematics characteristics of the radial micro-vibration guide wire is analyzed, thus the drag reduction mechanism of guide wire assisted by ultrasonic vibration is obtained. The effect of proposed method on reducing the friction resistance is studied in the simulation blood vessel environment, and the influences of the applied vibration frequency on the friction force are investigated. The experimental study shows that the effect of exerted ultrasonic micro-vibration drag reduction is significant and the influence law is obvious. It offers a new thinking and way to improve the fluency and safety of vascular interventional surgery.