Microrobotic swarms for selective embolization

Abstract

Inspired by the collective intelligence in natural swarms, microrobotic agents have been controlled to form artificial swarms for targeted drug delivery, enhanced imaging, and hyperthermia. Different from these well-investigated tasks, this work aims to develop microrobotic swarms for embolization, which is a clinical technique used to block blood vessels for treating tumors, fistulas, and arteriovenous malformations. Magnetic particle swarms were formed for selective embolization to address the low selectivity of the present embolization technique that is prone to cause complications such as stroke and blindness. We established an analytical model that describes the relationships between fluid viscosity, flow rate, branching angle, magnetic field strength, and swarm integrity, based on which an actuation strategy was developed to maintain the swarm integrity inside a targeted region under fluidic flow conditions. Experiments in microfluidic channels, ex vivo tissues, and in vivo porcine kidneys validated the efficacy of the proposed strategy for selective embolization.