Robotic catheter system

• US 7,974,681 B2
• Filed: 07/06/2005
• Issued: 07/05/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/05/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Auris Health, Inc. (Johnson & Johnson)
• Original Assignee: Hansen Medical Incorporated (Johnson & Johnson)
• Inventors: Stahler, Gregory J., Barbagli, Federico, Niemeyer, Gunter D., Wallace, Daniel T., Martin, Kenneth M., Moll, Frederic H., Moore, David F., Adams, Daniel T., Zinn, Michael R., Younge, Robert G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Le; Long V
• Assistant Examiner(s): Cattungal; Sanjay
• Application Number:
  US11/176,957
• Publication Number:
  US 20060293643A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,190 Days
• Field of Search: 600407-411, 600/424, 600/473, 600/476, 600/427, 600/101, 600/109, 600/114, 600/146, 600/139, 600/117, 600/118, 606/130, 604/95.04, 604/164.12, 604/164.09
• US Class Current: 600/424
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 10/06 Biopsy forceps , e.g. with cup-shaped jaws
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 17/00234 for minimally invasive surgery A61B17/0218, A61B17/0469, A61B17/12013, A61B17/1285, A61B17/29, A61B17/320016 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 18/00 Surgical instruments, devices or methods for transferring non-mechanical forms of energy to or from the body eye surgery A61F9/007; ear surgery A61F11/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/00199 with a console, e.g. a control panel with a display
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/00247 Making holes in the wall of the heart, e.g. laser Myocardial revascularization
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/003 Steerable
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/00477 Coupling A61B2017/0046 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2018/00392 Transmyocardial revascularisation
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/102 Modelling of surgical devices, implants or prosthesis
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/105 Modelling of the patient, e.g. for ligaments or bones
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/107 Visualisation of planned trajectories or target regions
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/2051 Electromagnetic tracking systems
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/301 for introducing or steering flexible instruments inserted into the body, e.g. catheters or endoscopes
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/715 Cable tensioning mechanisms for removing slack
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2034/742 Joysticks
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/035 preventing further rotation
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/065 for measuring contact or contact pressure
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/367 creating a 3D dataset from 2D images using position information
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/374 NMR or MRI
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/378 using ultrasound
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/3925 : ultrasonic
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/397 : electromagnetic other than visible, e.g. microwave
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 34/20 : Surgical navigation systems; Devices for tracking or guiding surgical instruments, e.g. for frameless stereotaxis
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 34/25 : User interfaces for surgical systems
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 34/30 : Surgical robots
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 34/37 : Master-slave robots A61B34/35 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 34/71 : Manipulators operated by drive cable mechanisms
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 34/76 : Manipulators having means for providing feel, e.g. force or tactile feedback
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 34/77 : Manipulators with motion or force scaling
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 46/10 : specially adapted for instruments, e.g. microscopes
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/7285 : for synchronising or triggering a physiological measurement or image acquisition with a physiological event or waveform, e.g. an ECG signal A61B6/5205, A61B6/541, A61B8/5207, A61B8/543 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/503 : for diagnosis of the heart
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/504 : for diagnosis of blood vessels, e.g. by angiography
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 6/541 : involving acquisition triggered by a physiological signal
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/0891 : for diagnosis of blood vessels
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/12 : in body cavities or body tracts, e.g. by using catheters catheters per se A61M25/00
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/4254 : using sensors mounted on the probe
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/4461 : Features of the scanning mechanism, e.g. for moving the transducer within the housing of the probe
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/4466 : involving deflection of the probe
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 8/543 : involving acquisition triggered by a physiological signal
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 90/50 : Supports for surgical instruments, e.g. articulated arms
• CPC Class Codes: B33Y 80/00 : Products made by additive manufacturing

Abstract

A robotic catheter system includes a controller with a master input device, and an instrument driver in communication with the controller, the instrument driver configured for independently controlling each of number of desired motions of a flexible, elongate guide instrument in a body of a patient in response to control signals generated by the controller, the desired motions selected from the group comprising axial advancement, axial retraction, axial rotation, and radial bending. Integrated haptics capability may be provided, in which one or more motors provide tactile feedback to an operator through the master input device.

Claims

1. A method using a robotically controlled system to perform a procedure on a patient, comprising:

inserting an elongate flexible instrument into a body;

maneuvering a distal end portion of the instrument within an anatomical workspace in the body using a robotically controlled system;

obtaining an image of the anatomical workspace;

predicting a location of the instrument distal end portion within the anatomical workspace using a kinematic model that takes into account mechanics of material relationships of the instrument; and

generating and displaying in the image a graphical reconstruction of the instrument distal end portion at a predicted location in the image of the anatomical workspace.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the image of the anatomical workspace is a fluoroscopy image.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the image of the anatomical workspace is an intracardiac echo ultrasound image.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the image of the anatomical workspace is a computer tomography image.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the image of the anatomical workspace is obtained prior to inserting the instrument into the body.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein multiple perspective views of the generated graphical reconstruction of the instrument and image of the anatomical workspace are displayed.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of predicting is performed by a computerized system.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the predicted location represents an estimate of a current position of the instrument distal end portion.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the act of predicting comprises performing a calculation based on a positioning command to operate the instrument.

10. A method of graphically displaying a predicted position of a surgical instrument in an anatomical workspace, comprising:

displaying on a display substantially real-time images of the anatomical workspace;

inserting an elongate flexible instrument into a body;

maneuvering a distal end portion of the instrument within an anatomical workspace in the body using a robotically controlled system;

predicting a location of an elongate flexible catheter instrument positioned within the anatomical workspace using a kinematic model that takes into account mechanics of material relationships of the instrument; and

overlaying the substantially real-time images with a graphical rendering of the predicted position of the surgical instrument on the display.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the substantially real-time images of the anatomical workspace are fluoroscopy images, the method further comprising overlaying an intracardiac echo ultrasound image of the anatomical workspace on the display.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the act of predicting is performed by a computerized system.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein the predicted location represents an estimate of a current position of the elongate flexible catheter instrument.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the act of predicting comprises performing a calculation based on a positioning command to operate the instrument.

15. A method using a robotically controlled system to perform an operation on a patient, comprising:

displaying a pre-operative image of an anatomical workspace in the patient'"'"'s body;

inserting an elongate flexible instrument into the patient'"'"'s body so that a distal end portion of the instrument is positioned within the anatomical workspace;

maneuvering the distal end portion of the instrument within the anatomical workspace using a robotically controlled system;

generating and displaying on the displayed pre-operative image a graphical reconstruction of the instrument distal end portion in a position in the anatomical workspace that is predicted using a kinematic model that takes into account mechanics of material relationships of the instrument.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the pre-operative image comprises a three-dimensional image of a heart.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the position is predicted by a computerized system.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the predicted position represents a current position of the instrument distal end portion.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the predicted position is obtained by performing a calculation based on a positioning command to operate the instrument.