3-D Ultrasound-Guided Robotic Needle Steering in Biological Tissue

Abstract

Robotic needle steering systems have the potential to greatly improve medical interventions, but they require new methods for medical image guidance. Three-dimensional (3-D) ultrasound is a widely available, low-cost imaging modality that may be used to provide real-time feedback to needle steering robots. Unfortunately, the poor visibility of steerable needles in standard grayscale ultrasound makes automatic segmentation of the needles impractical. A new imaging approach is proposed, in which high-frequency vibration of a steerable needle makes it visible in ultrasound Doppler images. Experiments demonstrate that segmentation from this Doppler data is accurate to within 1–2 mm. An image-guided control algorithm that incorporates the segmentation data as feedback is also described. In experimental tests in ex vivo bovine liver tissue, a robotic needle steering system implementing this control scheme was able to consistently steer a needle tip to a simulated target with an average error of 1.57 mm. Implementation of 3-D ultrasound-guided needle steering in biological tissue represents a significant step toward the clinical application of robotic needle steering.

Needle Segmentation in Volumetric Optical Coherence Tomography Images for Ophthalmic Microsurgery

“…When using iOCT to estimate the needle pose and position, the first step is to obtain the needle point cloud and to segment the needle voxels in the volumetric OCT images. Apart from the difficulties caused by image speckle, low contrast, signal loss due to shadowing, and refraction artifacts, the needle in OCT images has much more details of the tip part (needle may have several fragments in the B-scan image) and has illusory needle reflection [18]. All these challenges make needle segmentation in OCT images different from other imaging modalities such as 3D ultrasound.…”

Three-Dimensional Needle Shape Estimation in TRUS-Guided Prostate Brachytherapy Using 2-D Ultrasound Images

“…However, in transverse images, only a cross-section of the needle is visible. Recent techniques have been developed by Greer et al [23] and Adebar et al [24], which integrate transverse US imaging with Doppler US for robotic needle steering. A voice coil actuator was attached to the needle to induce small vibrations that allow the needle to be seen in Doppler US.…”

“…Third-order polynomials have been shown to provide a good approximation of surgical needle shapes [11], [17], [23], [24], [29] and prevent unrealistic rippling effects caused by higher-order polynomials. In addition, a low-order polynomial model is less computationally intensive for the RANSAC procedure compared to more complex, physics-based models.…”

3D ultrasound-guided robotic steering of a flexible needle via visual servoing

“…A few studies have just been published which use ultrasound imaging to track the needle during robotic insertion. Adebar et al [16] use 3D Doppler ultrasound to detect a bent-tip needle which is vibrated, thus highlighting the needle shape in the Doppler image. The needle is steered into ex vivo bovine tissues towards a fixed target using a duty-cycling controller with intraoperative re-planning based on the detected needle pose.…”