Towards a Modular Suturing Catheter for Minimally Invasive Vascular Surgery

Endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) is a minimally invasive approach for abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) treatment. Compared to open surgery, the benefits of EVAR include faster recovery and shorter time in hospital as well as no general anesthesia (in most cases). Though EVAR has become a preferred way to treat AAA with an increasing number of procedures, there are persisting complications, e.g. stent graft migration. Suturing the stent graft to the aorta increases the displacement force necessary to move the implant. This paper describes the design of a suturing catheter for EVAR. The suturing device consist of two modules which can be inserted through the femoral arteries into the abdominal aorta where both join using an electro-magnetic connector. The positioning module provides an anchor inside the aorta for the suturing module and new sequential positions for each stitch. Our large-scale prototype is validated inside a phantom vessel made of silicone material. We are able to successfully prove the concept of this novel single-sided suturing catheter for EVAR.