Recent Progress in Contact Force Sensing Techniques for Cardiovascular Interventional Procedures

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), such as heart attacks and strokes, are the top causes of death and disability globally. The standard treatment for CVDs usually involves interventional procedures, in which slender instruments such as guidewires and catheters are navigated through blood vessels to reach target lesions. However, the inability to accurately quantify the contact force (CF) between interventional instruments and tissues raises the risks of vascular injury, poor ablation results, and high rates of recurrence after the procedure. With rapid advancements in robot-assisted interventional surgery, the need for accurate CF measurement and feedback has become increasingly urgent. This review systematically examines the latest research on CF sensing in interventional procedure, organized into four main areas: 1) a comparative analysis of CF sensing methods and their strengths and limitations; 2) an overview of functional materials for CF sensing and their properties; 3) a comparative evaluation of sensor designs regarding performance and constraints; and 4) a practical summary of CF sensing applications in guidewire navigation, occlusion penetration, catheter ablation, and related procedures. Finally, future directions for CF sensing, highlighting its critical role in advancing biomedical applications, are discussed.