Sensor helps in aneurysm treatment

, working with Prof. Hideo Fujimoto’s research team in the graduate school of

, has developed a force sensing system to be used in cerebral aneurysm treatment.

The system measures and displays any minute force from the fingertips of a surgeon manipulating a very thin wire, which is only 0.3mm in diameter, passed through a catheter in cerebral arteries during minimally invasive treatment of aneurysms.

Minimally invasive operations are becoming more prevalent in the medical field because they use a much smaller incision than that in the past to perform the same operation. This reduces trauma of the patient along with the recovery time.

An aneurysm is a bulge, or balloon, in a blood vessel normally occurring near the brain. If left untreated, these aneurysms can burst, causing subarachnoid haemorrhaging.

Coil Embolisation is a procedure used to occlude the cerebral aneurysm, preventing its rupture. In this operation, a catheter is inserted through a vessel near the groin and a small micro catheter is worked to the location of the aneurysm.

It is necessary for the surgical operator to work this very thin wire with minute force in order not to rupture the aneurysm or blood vessel by mistake. Then platinum coils are deployed into the aneurysm filling it from within and thus preventing blood from entering the aneurysm itself.

The product developed by NTN is the world's first system that can measure and display the minute forces of the surgeon's fingertips being applied to the very thin wire.

To do this, the system optically detects the displacement of the wire. This sensor has been integrated into the Y-connector that connects the catheter and the wire, to make it compatible with the conventional devices.

This system enables surgeons to operate more safely by monitoring the wire manipulation during operation, and is expected to make the operation easier for surgeons to perform. The system allows more surgeons to easily learn and perform the operation.