Toward Robotically Automated Femoral Vascular Access

TL;DR

This paper presents a teleoperated robotic system for femoral vascular access, demonstrating initial success in phantom and animal experiments, aiming to facilitate complex resuscitative procedures like ECMO and REBOA.

Contribution

The paper introduces the first robot-assisted arterial catheterizations using a teleoperated system, integrating kinematic manipulators, sensing, and user interfaces for vascular access.

Findings

Successful robotic arterial catheterizations in phantom models.

First in-vivo robot-assisted femoral arterial access in porcine experiments.

Demonstrated potential for automation in critical resuscitative procedures.

Abstract

Advanced resuscitative technologies, such as Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) cannulation or Resuscitative Endovascular Balloon Occlusion of the Aorta (REBOA), are technically difficult even for skilled medical personnel. This paper describes the core technologies that comprise a teleoperated system capable of granting femoral vascular access, which is an important step in both of these procedures and a major roadblock in their wider use in the field. These technologies include a kinematic manipulator, various sensing modalities, and a user interface. In addition, we evaluate our system on a surgical phantom as well as in-vivo porcine experiments. These resulted in, to the best of our knowledge, the first robot-assisted arterial catheterizations; a major step towards our eventual goal of automatic catheter insertion through the Seldinger technique.