Objective: The objective of this work is to introduce and demonstrate the effectiveness of a novel sensing modality for contact detection between an off-the-shelf aspiration catheter and a thrombus. Methods: A custom robotic actuator with a pressure sensor was used to generate an oscillatory vacuum excitation and sense the pressure inside the extracorporeal portion of the catheter. Vacuum pressure profiles and robotic motion data were used to train a support vector machine (SVM) classification model to detect contact between the aspiration catheter tip and a mock thrombus. Validation consisted of benchtop accuracy verification, as well as user study comparison to the current standard of angiographic presentation. Results: Benchtop accuracy of the sensing modality was shown to be 99.67%. The user study demonstrated statistically significant improvement in identifying catheter-thrombus contact compared to the current standard. The odds ratio of successful detection of clot contact was 2.86 (p=0.03) when using the proposed sensory method compared to without it. Conclusion: The results of this work indicate that the proposed sensing modality can offer intraoperative feedback to interventionalists that can improve their ability to detect contact between the distal tip of a catheter and a thrombus. Significance: By offering a relatively low-cost technology that affords off-the-shelf aspiration catheters as clot-detecting sensors, interventionalists can improve the first-pass effect of the mechanical thrombectomy procedure while reducing procedural times and mental burden.

翻译：目的：本研究旨在提出并验证一种新型传感模态的有效性，该模态用于检测市售抽吸导管与血栓之间的接触。方法：采用配备压力传感器的定制机器人执行器，产生振荡真空激励并检测导管体外部分的内部压力。利用真空压力曲线和机器人运动数据训练支持向量机(SVM)分类模型，以检测抽吸导管尖端与模拟血栓之间的接触。验证包括台架精度测试以及通过与现行血管造影标准进行对比的用户研究。结果：该传感模态的台架精度达到99.67%。用户研究表明，与现行标准相比，该方法在识别导管-血栓接触方面具有统计学显著优势。使用所提出的传感方法时，成功检测血栓接触的优势比为2.86(p=0.03)。结论：本研究结果表明，所提出的传感模态可为介入医师提供术中反馈，提高其检测导管远端尖端与血栓接触的能力。意义：通过提供一种相对低成本的技术，使市售抽吸导管兼具血栓传感器功能，介入医师可提升机械血栓切除术的首次通过效果，同时缩短手术时间并减轻精神负担。