Micro force sensor for intravascular neurosurgery and in vivo experiment

Catheter is one of the medical tools for endovascular surgeries, and it is frequently used for neurosurgical operations. There is, however, a problem that doctors operate a catheter without any force information during their operation, and this problem causes fatigue of doctors. To solve this problem, we propose a micro force sensor for intravascular neurosurgery. This micro force sensor can be installed on the tip of the catheter. The diameter of this sensor is 1.5 mm and length is 12 mm. Using this micro force sensor, we can measure the contact force between the catheter and blood vessels. To express the contact force between catheter and blood vessels is very effective for safe operation. In this paper, we show the structure of the micro force sensor and its characteristics, and also we present the result of an in vivo experiment.