Implementation of a Magnetic Device

Aneurysms in the brain constitute a serious health problem that is often lethal and difficult to treat. Recent research resulted in the development of a new endovascular device, the asymmetric stent, to treat these aneurysms. Asymmetric stents have a low porosity region that should cover the aneurysm's neck to reduce the blood flow into it and hence obliterate the aneurysm. In order to properly place the low porosity region, the stent has to be rotated. Unfortunately, this cannot be done with the commonly used guide wire of the catheter that allows only for forward movements. This work presents possible methods of rotating the stent with a magnetic guidance system and analyzes their feasibility from a physical point of view. The proposed feasible magnetic guidance system consists of a magnetic device attached to the asymmetric stent and an external homogeneous magnetic field. An external magnetic field of the required strength could for example be produced using the existing magnetic guidance system of Stereotaxis.

Autorentext
Florin, Esther Esther Florin currently works at the Research Centre Juelich. Her current research area is medical physics, with a particular focus on methodological developments in neuroscience and signal processing. She studied physics in Jena and Wuerzburg (Germany) and holds a M.S. from the University at Buffalo (NY, USA).