Development of Peristaltically Propelled Active Catheter Used in Radial Artery

In our previous studies, many experiments using pseudoblood vessels with an inner diameter of ≤6 mm have been carried out assuming that the catheter is inserted in a femoral artery. In recent years in Japan, however, along with the trends of reducing the burden on patients and the downsizing of catheters, in more than half of the cases, catheters are inserted in radial arteries with inner diameters of 2.0–3.5 mm for the treatment of dysfunctional coronary arteries. The purpose of this study was to develop a small active catheter so that the catheter can navigate in a radial artery. The effectiveness of the catheter was confirmed by the driving experiment using silicon tubes with inner diameters of 2.5–3.0 mm and an endovascular surgery simulator.