The CathCam: A Novel Angioscopic Solution for Endovascular Interventions

Abstract

Peripheral arterial diseases are commonly managed with endovascular procedures, which often face limitations in device control and visualization under X-ray fluoroscopy guidance. In response, we developed the CathCam, an angioscope integrated into an expandable cable-driven parallel mechanism to enhance real-time visualization, precise device positioning and catheter support for successful plaque crossing. The primary objective of this study was to assess and compare the performance of the novel CathCam with respect to conventional catheters and the CathPilot (i.e., CathCam without the angioscope), for applications in crossing chronic total occlusions (CTO). We first assessed the system in 3D-printed phantom models, followed by an ex vivo evaluation with CTO samples from a patient's superficial femoral artery. We measured and compared success rates, crossing times, and fluoroscopy times in both experiments. The CathCam demonstrated a 100% success rate in phantom experiments and a 75% success rate in ex vivo experiments with CTO samples, compared to conventional catheters, with 35% and 25% success rates, respectively. The average crossing times for the CathCam and the conventional catheter were 31 s and 502 s for the phantom experiments and 210 s and 511 s for the actual CTO lesions. The Cathcam also showed to be a reliable endovascular imaging approach in an in vivo experiment. Compared to conventional catheters, the CathCam significantly increased the success rate and reduced crossing and fluoroscopy times in both phantom and ex vivo setups. CathCam can potentially improve clinical outcomes for minimally invasive endovascular interventions by offering high-resolution real-time imaging alongside accurate device control.

Keywords: Angioscopy; Cardiovascular intervention; Catheter; Catheter navigation; Chronic total occlusion; Guidewire navigation; Image-guided therapy.