Helical Structures for Medical Applications

Abstract

The latest advances in the field of microrobotics assisted medical experts in the treatment of some of human diseases especially intravascular diseases such as atherosclerosis. In this research, a phantom for the atherosclerotic plaque material is fabricated using Gelatine and Nano Hydroxyapatite in a catheter tube to mimic the condition in the human body in vitro. For plaque penetration a helical microrobot is designed to achieve the optimum plaque clearing efficiency. The robot is a remotely controlled micro helical magnetic based metallic robot which is inserted in the catheter to penetrate the phantom by rotational motion along its axis. The motion of the robot during mechanical grinding of the plaque phantom is simulated using MATLAB where the distance of the robot’s journey inside the plaque phantom is plotted against the time consumed by the robot.