Pressure Sensor for Brain Catheter  

In the Spring of 2014, I took the ME 220 Introduction to Sensors at Stanford. For the final project of the class, I decided to connect a very interesting project I was working on to what I learned in class. 

Approximately 1 in 50 people in the US have an unruptured brain aneurysm and 30,000 people have rupture aneurysm. Of the ruptured aneurysms, 40% induce death and approximately 66% cause permanent brain damage. Endovascular brain surgery is a minimally invasive technique that allows access to the brain via catheters (long thin tubes) inserted through blood vessels to treat aneurysms, arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) and other conditions that cause stroke or neurological damage.

A pressure sensor can be used in endovascular interventions to serve as a diagnostic tool to help physicians assess the condition of the patient and dictate when further treatment is needed. My project consisted of conceptually designing a circuit and a pressure sensor for my research applications. The images below show some of the CAD for the design.