Computer Vision News - January 2023

29 Patient-Specific Magnetic Catheters ... its length . Standard tools may allow two or three different bends of the tip, but this one can bend anywhere, and the way it bends is specific to what you want it to achieve. “ Now, we have multiple soft, magnetized silicone elements and controllability of multiple points along the length of the catheter , ” he explains. “ Given the preoperative image, we say we want to go from point A to point B, and to do that, we need to follow a specific path. Then we program the magnetic signature or lengthwise magnetization of those soft elements to form to the shape we want in the anatomy once we apply a magnetic field. ” In this case, the soft catheter is 2.2 millimeters in diameter but does not currently have integrated vision. Cameras can be quite small, but the problem is a lack of light. Fluoroscopy, an external imaging technique, can help guide here , but X-rays are undesirable for the patient and medical team due to radiation exposure and would with a rigid tool. Before magnets were used, tools had to be relatively rigid as flexible elastic tools could buckle in the anatomy. In this work, Giovanni transitions from having onemagnet at the tip of the catheter to incorporating magnetic elements along