A variable stiffness robotically steerable guidewire for endovascular interventions. 2025

Timothy A Brumfiel, and Revanth Konda, and Nidhi Malhotra, and Jaydev P Desai
Medical Robotics and Automation (RoboMed) Laboratory, Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA USA.

Endovascular interventions typically begin with the placement of a guidewire. Guidewire placement is challenging due to tortuous anatomy and the lack of steerability at the guidewire tip. Navigation often requires several guidewires with different stiffnesses to ensure the target is safely reached. This results in longer procedure times, extended radiation exposure to patients, and higher healthcare costs. To address these challenges, we present the design, modeling, and control of a tendon-driven robotically steerable guidewire with controllable stiffness along its proximal segment through a proposed motion control scheme. Models to capture the motion of the guidewire are presented and image feedback is utilized to achieve closed-loop control. The proposed controller exhibited maximum deflection RMSE of 1.82° and 0.70° for the distal and stiffening joints, respectively. The stiffening joint achieved the desired stiffnesses with a maximum RMSE of 1.9 × 10-2 Nm2. Thus, the methods presented in this paper demonstrate the potential to use a single guidewire in a procedure.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries

Related Publications

Timothy A Brumfiel, and Revanth Konda, and Nidhi Malhotra, and Jaydev P Desai
September 2025, IEEE robotics and automation letters,
Timothy A Brumfiel, and Revanth Konda, and Nidhi Malhotra, and Jaydev P Desai
July 2021, IEEE transactions on bio-medical engineering,
Timothy A Brumfiel, and Revanth Konda, and Nidhi Malhotra, and Jaydev P Desai
October 2022, IEEE robotics and automation letters,
Timothy A Brumfiel, and Revanth Konda, and Nidhi Malhotra, and Jaydev P Desai
February 1980, Radiology,
Timothy A Brumfiel, and Revanth Konda, and Nidhi Malhotra, and Jaydev P Desai
April 2009, Journal of endovascular therapy : an official journal of the International Society of Endovascular Specialists,
Timothy A Brumfiel, and Revanth Konda, and Nidhi Malhotra, and Jaydev P Desai
December 2018, Medical & biological engineering & computing,
Timothy A Brumfiel, and Revanth Konda, and Nidhi Malhotra, and Jaydev P Desai
June 2024, ... International Symposium on Medical Robotics. International Symposium on Medical Robotics,
Timothy A Brumfiel, and Revanth Konda, and Nidhi Malhotra, and Jaydev P Desai
October 2022, Journal of neurointerventional surgery,
Timothy A Brumfiel, and Revanth Konda, and Nidhi Malhotra, and Jaydev P Desai
September 1992, Pacing and clinical electrophysiology : PACE,
Timothy A Brumfiel, and Revanth Konda, and Nidhi Malhotra, and Jaydev P Desai
December 2023, Radiology case reports,
Copied contents to your clipboard!