Tissue removal inside the beating heart using a robotically delivered metal MEMS tool

Abstract

A novel robotic tool is proposed to enable the surgical removal of tissue from inside the beating heart. The tool is manufactured using a unique metal MEMS process that provides the means to fabricate fully assembled devices that incorporate micron-scale features in a millimeter scale tool. The tool is integrated with a steerable curved concentric tube robot that can enter the heart percutaneously through peripheral vessels. Incorporating both irrigation and aspiration, the tissue removal system is capable of extracting substantial amounts of tissue under teleoperated control by first morselizing it and then transporting the debris out of the heart through the lumen of the robot. Tool design and robotic integration are described, and ex vivo and in vivo large animal experimental results are presented.