An Attraction-Repulsion Dual-Mode Magnetically Actuated Guidewire for Superselective Navigation in Endovascular Intervention

Current magnetically actuated guidewires mainly rely on magnetic attraction for manipulation, potentially causing vascular injury due to high acceleration during steering. In this article, an attraction-repulsion dual-mode magnetically actuated guidewire (DMAG) is proposed, where a magnet and a miniature coil are sequentially embedded into the distal tip of the guidewire. Under an external magnetic field, the magnet can stabilize the distal tip's direction via magnetic repulsion; the coil generates magnetic moments in different directions by tuning the current, thereby realizing active distal tip steering. In addition to the capabilities of conventional magnetic guidewire designs, the proposed DMAG is also capable of providing precise and safe steering control to the distal tip via magnetic repulsion. Analytical modeling is established and the feasibility of steering is verified via finite element simulation. Subsequently, a series of in vitro experiments demonstrate DMAG's capability in precise steering. Furthermore, experiments on a human vascular phantom show the effectiveness of the active steering control of the distal tip in the repulsion mode. The proposed design successfully avoids the risks of stepwise deflection and elastic potential energy accumulation during steering, thereby significantly improving the safety of endovascular intervention.