In-vitro intravascular simulator with quantitative evaluation for surgical tools used in cerebral aneurysm surgery based on stress analysis

This paper presents a new in-vitro simulator that can simulate the new technology of three-dimensional digital subtraction angiography (DSA) to perform a cerebral aneurysm surgery. Then, propose a new technique for the numerical evaluation of the surgical tools applied within this interventional surgery to aid in the design and selection of surgical instruments. Initially, the in-vitro intravascular simulator was constructed, followed by cerebral aneurysm models that were fabricated with highly sensitive photoelastic materials of epoxy resin. Then reconstruct virtual reality modeling of the blood vessel and catheter to record the position information and realize virtual guidance for training. Meanwhile, conduct image processing of photoelastic effects for numerical evaluations of surgical instruments such as catheter insertion and stent expansion. During the stent expansion experiment, the average stress in the selected region of interest caused by the expansion was calculated and compared with the corresponding value obtained before the expansion. The presented simulator and measurement technique can assist in improving a surgeons skills, quantifying the performance of medical mechanisms, and contribute to 3D analysis of stress distribution. This approach can also provide feedback control for robot assisted endovascular systems.