Micro active guide wire catheter system

We propose a new prototype model of micro catheter with active guide wire that has two bending degrees of freedom using an ionic conducting polymer film actuator on its front-end as the servo actuator. In this paper, the bending characteristics of the micro active catheter (MAC) have been measured by application of electricity in the physiological saline solution. By using simulators (whose conditions are similar to those of a body cavity), we have carried out "in vitro" simulation experiments and the contrast experiments of operability between the proposed catheter and a conventional guide wire catheter. The experimental results indicate that the proposed MAC is applicable to intracavity operations.