New Surgical Tools with Smart Sensors can Improve Cardiac Surgery and Therapy

Novel surgical instruments equipped with an advanced sensor system could dramatically improve the diagnoses and treatments of several heart diseases and conditions, reports a new study. The findings of the study are published in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering.

Researchers applied flexible and stretchable matrices of electrode sensors and actuators, with temperature and pressure sensors, to a balloon catheter system, usually used in minimally invasive surgeries or ablations to treat conditions like heart arrhythmias.

‘A new class of medical instruments using novel breakthrough materials and fabrication techniques can improve cardiac outcomes for patients and allow practitioners to deliver better, safer, and more patient-specific care. ’

A variety of roles can be performed by the new system, which conforms better to the body's soft tissue than current devices: the force of contact and electrophysiological parameters, simultaneous in vivo measurements of temperature, and therapeutic functions; and real-time feedback. It can drastically decrease the length of invasive ablation procedures and exposure of patients and doctors to X-ray radiation.

The new class of instruments will allow physicians to obtain a rich set of electrophysiological information and to perform surgeries in shorter times using a single instrumented catheter system.

Source: Medindia