Design and fabrication of a positioning system for an intravascular electrode system

Precise placement of intravascular leads is a vital requirement for transvascular neurostimulation as it determines the nerve selectivity and efficiency of stimulation. With the previous positioning method relying on ruler measurements, an electronic position sensor system was designed to minimize placement time, increase accuracy, reproducibility and allow for integration into a control unit system. To keep track of each electrode array, the developed sensor uses one linear membrane potentiometer for each lead. A plastic bead is fitted on each lead and as the bead is lightly squeezed into the membrane potentiometer, the potentiometer resistance changes proportionally to a bead position. The electrode position can therefore be inferred from this measurement. This system is simple, inexpensive and provides an absolute position measurement. This concept is also expected to be easily made into commercial product because of its compact and intuitive nature.