Kirigami Strain Sensing on Balloon Catheters with Temporary Tattoo Paper

The current state of the art of balloon catheters relies solely on the application of a predetermined quantity of mechanical strain to the balloon during diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. In some cases, the surgeons can use radioactive-contrasting agents and x-ray screening to identify the correct position and size of the inflated balloon. Otherwise, there is little information on the inflated size of the balloon catheter in the occluded lumen. This gap in quantitative feedback of the ballooning behavior needs to be addressed to ensure safe operation. With the advancement in technology and breakthrough in flexible electronics in recent years, kirigami, an ancient cutting, bending and folding technique, is explored in the stretchable sensing field due to its ability to transform 2D planar patterns 3D geometry structures. On top of that, kirigami can increase the mechanical strain by over 300% depending on the different cuts and folds and sensitivity over 80%. This manuscript will address this limitation of conventional balloon catheters by introducing strain sensing using kirigami technology to achieve a better, safer, and more efficient treatment procedure. Experimental results show that the change in normalized resistance of the sensor is directly proportional to the change in the size of the balloon.