Abstract

The possibility of automatically navigating untethered microdevices or future nanorobots to conduct target endovascular interventions has been demonstrated by our group with the computer-controlled displacement of a magnetic sphere along a pre-planned path inside the carotid artery of a living swine. However, although the feasibility of propelling, tracking and performing real-time closed-loop control of an untethered ferromagnetic object inside a living animal model with a relatively close similarity to human anatomical conditions has been validated using a standard clinical Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) system, little information has been published so far concerning the medical and technical protocol used. In fact, such a protocol developed within technological and physiological constraints was a key element in the success of the experiment. More precisely, special software modules were developed within the MRI software environment to offer an effective tool for experimenters interested in conducting such novel interventions. These additional software modules were also designed to assist an interventional radiologist in all critical real-time aspects that are executed at a speed beyond human capability, and include tracking, propulsion, event timing and closed-loop position control. These real-time tasks were necessary to avoid a loss of navigation control that could result in serious injury to the patient. Here, additional simulation and experimental results for microdevices designed to be targeted more towards the microvasculature have also been considered in the identification, validation and description of a specific sequence of events defining a new computer-assisted interventional protocol that provides the framework for future target interventions conducted in humans.