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A Surgical Platform for Intracerebral Hemorrhage Robotic Evacuation (ASPIHRE): A Non-metallic MR-guided Concentric Tube Robot

Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is the deadliest stroke sub-type, with a one-month mortality rate as high as 52%. Due to the potential cortical disruption caused by craniotomy, conservative management (watchful waiting) has historically been a common method of treatment. Minimally invasive evacuation has recently become an accepted method of treatment for patients with deep-seated hematoma 30-50 mL in volume, but proper visualization and tool dexterity remain constrained in conventional endoscopic approaches, particularly with larger hematoma volumes (> 50 mL). In this article we describe the development of ASPIHRE (A Surgical Platform for Intracerebral Hemorrhage Robotic Evacuation), the first-ever concentric tube robot that uses off-the-shelf plastic tubes for MR-guided ICH evacuation, improving tool dexterity and procedural visualization. The robot kinematics model is developed based on a calibration-based method and tube mechanics modeling, allowing the models to consider both variable curvature and torsional deflection. The MR-safe pneumatic motors are controlled using a variable gain PID algorithm producing a rotational accuracy of 0.317 +/- 0.3 degrees. The hardware and theoretical models are validated in a series of systematic bench-top and MRI experiments resulting in positional accuracy of the tube tip of 1.39 +\- 0.54 mm. Following validation of targeting accuracy, the evacuation efficacy of the robot was tested in an MR-guided phantom clot evacuation experiment. The robot was able to evacuate an initially 38.36 mL clot in 5 minutes, leaving a residual hematoma of 8.14 mL, well below the 15 mL guideline suggesting good post-ICH evacuation clinical outcomes.