Applying tactile sensing with piezoelectric materials for minimally invasive surgery and magnetic-resonance-guided interventions

Abstract

Medical technologies have undergone significant development to overcome the problems inherent in minimally invasive surgery such as inhibited manual dexterity, reduced visual information, and lack of direct touch feedback to make it easier for surgeons to operate. A minimally invasive tool incorporating haptic feedback is being developed to increase the effectiveness of diagnostic procedures by providing force feedback. Magnetic resonance imaging guidance is possible to allow tool localization; however, this engenders the requirement of magnetic resonance compatibility on the device. This paper describes the work done towards developing a sensing device using piezoelectric sensor elements to locate subsurface inclusions in soft substrates, with its magnetic resonance compatibility tested in a 1.5 T scanner. Results show that the position of a hard inclusion can be determined.

Magnetic resonance imaging-compatible tactile sensing device based on a piezoelectric array

“…Piezoceramic sensors made of lead zirconium titanate (PZT) with low magnetic susceptibility and good MRI compatibility were used in previous work. 54…”

“…To improve the SNR and to simultaneously increase the operating bandwidth, a signal conditioning circuit, known as a charge amplifier, was designed. 54 Charge amplifiers are based on op-amp circuits, with high terminal input impedance and capacitive feedback. The use of a capacitor ensures that charge on the sensor is immediately drawn off and replaced with a corresponding charge and associated voltage developed on the capacitor.…”

“…The piezoelectric sensors are made from a commercially available piezodisk bimorph (Murata 7BB-35-6L0). 54 The sensor mount and probe housing are fabricated from DURUS resin using a selective laser sintering (SLS) rapid prototyping technique.…”

Displacement Sensing by Piezoelectric Transducers in High-Speed Lateral Nanopositioning

“…Moreover, they have small foot prints and do not require additional bulky parts for installation or complicated electronic instruments. They have also been used to detect underwater vibrating objects [45], force in tactile sensors [35], [46], [47], slip in prosthetic hands [48], and pressure in prosthetic limbs [49], [50]. However, their application as a direct displacement sensor is very limited, especially in Micro and Nano positioning mechanisms.…”

A piezoresistive tactile sensor for tissue characterization during catheter‐based cardiac surgery

“…However, the developed tactile sensor has a simple and circular configuration that can be easily integrated on the tip of a surgical catheter with a circular shape. The proposed sensor may also be used in a magnetic resonance‐guided environment by changing the piezoresistive force sensors to piezoelectric force sensors, which can be performed by using polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) sheets as the sensing elements . However, using PVDF material the sensor can work only under the dynamic force condition.…”