Abstract: Fiber optical shape sensing of flexible instruments

Abstract

For minimal invasive procedures like endovascular aortic repair procedures the instruments are navigated with 2D fluoroscopy imaging and digital subtraction angiography, which have several disadvantages. Optical fibers with fiber Bragg gratings (FBG), which allow to sense local strain respectively local curvature and bending angles, can be used for the guidance of medical tools to reduce the X-ray exposure and the used contrast agent. However, FBG-based shape sensing of flexible and long instruments is challenging and the computation includes many steps.