Magnetic Catheter Placement in Neonates: A Handheld Solution to Radiation Exposure and Operational Delays

Abstract

The use of subcutaneous devices has greatly advanced the field of medicine and surgery. However, localizing these devices internally requires imaging techniques such as X‐ray or ultrasound. A novel magnetic tracking system for subcutaneous medical devices is presented, providing the capability for precise device localization in an extremely compact and portable pocket‐size format. It is entirely benign, avoids X‐rays, and can be used to immediately confirm the proper instrument placement. It is implemented on umbilical catheters and endotracheal tubes and is characterized by bench‐test, cadaveric, and in vivo studies. The systems consist of a magnetic tip fixed to the distal end of the subcutaneous device, as well as a Magnetic Sensing‐Array Device that utilizes a matrix of magnetic field sensors to localize the magnetic tip. The bench‐tests show a high localization accuracy for a distance up to 4 cm. The accuracy is slightly reduced during cadaveric and in vivo tests, due to factors impacting the application, such as the dermal surface topography. Regardless, the magnetic subcutaneous medical device tracking system is shown to be robust in performance and functionality in real‐world clinical applications, and with its intuitive approach and portability, it has the potential to make real‐time subcutaneous device tracking widely accessible.

A Review on Magnetic Smart Skin as Human–Machine Interfaces

“…For example, in 2018, Almansouri et al proposed an imperceptible magnetic skin for contactless HMI, [27] after that, many works used the magnetic film for wheelchair control, [54] eye movement recognition, [40] and catheter tracking. [60,61] The film structures focus on the large-area sensing and contactless HMI.…”

“…The system utilizes a magnetic skin to implement a permanent magnetic device tip. [60,61] Almansouri et al used a magnetic skin system to track blinking and eye movements, which has many applications in automotive, gaming, sleep laboratories, controlling machines, and tracking our health. [40] Zhang et al proposed a magnetic skin and applied it to gesture recognition and magnetic positioning, both perform well and provide a new way for future contactless human-machine interaction [33] (Figure 5).…”