In a joint effort, NTN corporation and Prof. Hideo Fujimoto, of the graduate school of Nagoya Institute of Technology, have developed a force sensing system for cerebral aneurysm treatment. Some details from NTN:
The system measures and displays any minute force from the fingertips of a surgeon (operator) manipulating a very thin wire, which is only 0.3mm in diameter, passed through a catheter in cerebral arteries during minimally invasive treatment of aneurysms.
Minimally invasive operations are becoming more prevalent in the medical field because they use a much smaller incision than that in the past to perform the same operation. This reduces trauma of the patient along with the recovery time. An aneurysm is a bulge, or balloon, in a blood vessel normally occurring near the brain. If left untreated, these aneurysms can burst, causing subarachnoid hemorrhaging. Coil Embolization is a procedure used to occlude the cerebral aneurysm, preventing its rupture. In this operation, a catheter is inserted through a vessel near the groin and a small micro catheter is worked to the location of the aneurysm. It is necessary for the surgical operator to work this very thin wire with minute force in order not to rupture the aneurysm or blood vessel by mistake. Then platinum coils are deployed into the aneurysm filling it from within and thus preventing blood from entering the aneurysm itself.
Link to NTN product page…