Every Long, Flexible Medical Device Will Have Shape Sensing

Shape sensing is poised to transform how long, flexible medical devices—like catheters, guidewires, and endoscopes—are designed, navigated, and understood. Unlike fluoroscopy, electromagnetic (EM) tracking, or impedance-based navigation, shape sensing delivers continuous full-length, real-time 3D geometry without external sensors or disrupted workflow. In this blog series, we’ll unpack how this foundational data underpins AI-powered tools that will reshape every aspect of interventional medicine.

Limitations of Today’s Navigation Technologies

Fluoroscopy Isn’t 3D Navigation

Fluoroscopy provides real-time 2D imaging of device position, but it’s limited to one view at a time (anterior-posterior, lateral, etc.) and requires a dedicated X-ray suite with radiation exposure risks. It cannot clearly visualize soft tissue, and it fails to capture a dynamic 3D model needed for AI-driven guiding systems.

EM Tracking is Limited by Interference and Setup

EM tracking, despite being used since the 1990s, remains constrained by several issues: it requires bulky field generators near the surgical field, metal instruments and room elements distort the magnetic field, and accuracy degrades outside a tight volume. Most systems can only reliably track a few sensors before interference becomes problematic.

Impedance Tracking Works Only in Niche Cases

Impedance methods rely on electrodes in tissue and patches on the patient’s chest—feasible in electrophysiology catheters, but impractical for instruments without built-in electrodes. Signal quality varies with tissue types, breathing, and patient movement, and the patches can obscure imaging feeds. This makes it too variable and intrusive for general use.

How Shape Sensing Changes the Game

Shape sensing replaces the patchwork of legacy methods with a single, scalable solution. By embedding a hair-thin optical fiber inside a device, it continuously measures bending and twisting along the entire length, reconstructing the device’s 3D shape in real time. There’s no need for external sensors, field generators, or electrodes—removing major workflow and integration barriers.

This means any long, flexible medical device with an embedded sensor—catheters, guidewires, endoscopes, PICC lines, urology tools—can be tracked in three dimensions, in any clinical environment, without radiation. More importantly, shape sensing provides continuous, high-resolution data that forms the backbone for a new generation of intelligent surgical systems.

From Shape Data to Procedural Intelligence

Shape sensing by itself delivers immediate clinical value: radiation-free, real-time 3D navigation. But its true potential comes when shape data is paired with case context to create procedural data.

Procedural data = Shape data + Case context

Case context can come from many sources. It may be pre-recorded anatomical imaging such as CT or MRI, real-time imaging like ultrasound or a single X-ray snapshot, or other procedural signals including physiological monitoring, patient history, or intraoperative measurements. In some procedures, shape data alone is enough to generate meaningful insights — such as tracking insertion times, identifying bending or kinking, or monitoring tool stability throughout the procedure.

Because shape sensing is the only technology that can provide full-length tool shape data for flexible instruments, it is uniquely positioned to enable true procedural data capture in these cases.

Procedural data is the fuel for advanced AI applications—both during a case and across thousands of cases. As this data is collected over time, it builds a procedural data library that can power several key capabilities that we’ll explore in the coming weeks..

The Series: Building the Future of AI-Driven Procedures

This blog kicks off our new series, “Every Long, Flexible Medical Device Will Have Shape Sensing,” which will explore these applications in detail. Over the next four weeks, we’ll cover:

1. Pre-Procedure Planning & Intelligent Tool Selection – How procedural data enables patient-specific plans and tool recommendations.
2. AI-Guided Procedures – Using continuous shape sensing to provide in-procedure decision support.
3. Autonomous Procedures – The role of full-length shape data in enabling safe, stable, and precise robotic autonomy.
4. Automated Documentation – How procedural data can automatically capture what happened in the case, saving time and reducing errors.

The Bottom Line

Shape sensing isn’t just a better navigation tool—it’s the foundation for the next generation of intelligent surgery. It removes the limitations of legacy methods, scales across specialties, and enables continuous data capture in ways no other technology can. The result is a richer understanding of procedures, paving the way for AI, autonomy, and smarter care for every patient.

Over the coming weeks, we’ll show exactly how this shift will unfold — and why the hospitals, surgeons, and device makers who embrace shape sensing now will define the next era of minimally invasive care.

Interested in leveraging full-length shape sensing for your next-generation medical devices? Contact us to explore collaboration opportunities.