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A Robotized Steerable Catheter System for Cardiovascular Intervention With Enhanced Safety

Haonan Zhou,Yiming Jiang,Haoyu Gao,Qingxiang Zhao,Qi Lu,Kang Li,Yingqiang Guo

Published 2026 in IEEE Sensors Journal

ABSTRACT

The catheter insertion is a standard procedure in cardiovascular interventions. However, conventional catheters lack distal dexterity, making precise tip steering challenging in tortuous vessels. This limitation results in increased risk of vascular injury and considerable procedural complexity. In addition, current interventional procedures remain manually operated by surgeons under X-ray fluoroscopy, exposing surgeons to prolonged radiation and posing occupational health risks. Although several steerable catheter systems have demonstrated preliminary feasibility in interventional applications, current systems remain inadequate to satisfy the rigorous safety requirements and long-range navigation needs of cardiovascular interventions. To address these challenges, we present an innovative robotized steerable catheter system specifically designed for long-range cardiovascular interventions, achieving several key advancements. First, we propose a slender steerable catheter based on the concentric push–pull robot (CPPR), enabling precise tip bending during intervention. Second, the catheter’s three degrees of freedom (tip bending, reciprocal delivery, and rotation) are realized through a compact actuation unit combined with a corresponding control strategy, and operated via a joystick to facilitate intuitive remote operation. Third, a force sensor whose signals are preprocessed and fed into a deep learning model for correction is integrated at the clamping module, which provides force feedback for enhanced safety. Furthermore, quantitative experiments assessed the reliability of the bending angle regulation approach and the effectiveness of the force feedback correction method. Ultimately, multiscenario interventional experiments validated the system’s superior dexterity, operational stability, and significant potential for clinical application in cardiovascular interventions.

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