Feasibility study on a robot-assisted procedure for tumor localization using needle-rotation force signals

Abstract Accurate tumor localization is critical to early-stage cancer diagnosis and therapy. The recent force-guided technique allows to determine the depth of a suspicious tumor on the insertion path, while the spatial localization is still a great challenge. In this paper, a novel force-guided procedure was proposed to identify spatial tumor location using force signals during needle rotation. When there is a harder tumorous tissue around the needle rotation, an abnormal force signal will point to the location of the suspicious tissue. Finite element simulation and phantom experiment were conducted to test the feasibility of the procedure for the tumor localization. The simulation results showed that the harder tumorous tissue made a significant difference on the stress and deformation distributions for the surroundings, changing the needle-rotation force signals when the needle rotated towards the harder tissue. The experimental results indicated that the direction of the tumor location can be identified by the rotation-needle force signals. The intersection point of the two identified directions, derived from force signals of twice needle rotations, determined the tumor location ultimately. Also, parametric sensitivity tests were performed to examine the effective distance of the tumor location centre and the needle insertion point for the tumor localization. This procedure is expected to be used in robot-assisted system for cancer biopsy and brachytherapy.

[1]  K Yan,et al.  A real-time prostate cancer detection technique using needle insertion force and patient-specific criteria during percutaneous intervention. , 2009, Medical physics.

[2]  M. T. Perri,et al.  Initial Evaluation of a Tactile/Kinesthetic Force Feedback System for Minimally Invasive Tumor Localization , 2010, IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics.

[3]  Nikolai Hungr,et al.  A 3-D Ultrasound Robotic Prostate Brachytherapy System With Prostate Motion Tracking , 2012, IEEE Transactions on Robotics.

[4]  Ville Jalkanen,et al.  Indentation loading response of a resonance sensor—discriminating prostate cancer and normal tissue , 2013, Journal of medical engineering & technology.

[5]  Allison M. Okamura,et al.  Measurement of the Tip and Friction Force Acting on a Needle during Penetration , 2002, MICCAI.

[6]  Yan Yu,et al.  Flexible Needle-Tissue Interaction Modeling With Depth-Varying Mean Parameter: Preliminary Study , 2009, IEEE Trans. Biomed. Eng..

[7]  Martha K. Terris,et al.  Strategies for repeat prostate biopsies , 2009, Current urology reports.

[8]  D. Stoianovici,et al.  Robotically assisted prostate brachytherapy with transrectal ultrasound guidance--Phantom experiments. , 2006, Brachytherapy.

[9]  T. A. Thomas,et al.  Simulation of resistance forces acting on surgical needles , 1997, Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Part H, Journal of engineering in medicine.

[10]  Gregory S. Chirikjian,et al.  Ultrasound Probe and Needle-Guide Calibration for Robotic Ultrasound Scanning and Needle Targeting , 2013, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering.

[11]  Sharon Zlochiver,et al.  Biopsy Needle Localization Using Magnetic Induction Imaging Principles: A Feasibility Study , 2012, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering.

[12]  Masakatsu G. Fujie,et al.  Enhanced Targeting in Breast Tissue Using a Robotic Tissue Preloading-Based Needle Insertion System , 2012, IEEE Transactions on Robotics.

[13]  Peter N. Brett,et al.  Schemes for the identification of tissue types and boundaries at the tool point for surgical needles , 2000, IEEE Transactions on Information Technology in Biomedicine.

[14]  W. Fair,et al.  Incidence and clinical significance of false-negative sextant prostate biopsies. , 1998, The Journal of urology.

[15]  Kaspar Althoefer,et al.  Rolling Mechanical Imaging for Tissue Abnormality Localization During Minimally Invasive Surgery , 2010, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering.

[16]  Katarzyna J Macura,et al.  MR-guided biopsy of the prostate: an overview of techniques and a systematic review. , 2008, European urology.

[17]  Jung Kim,et al.  Local property characterization of prostate glands using inhomogeneous modeling based on tumor volume and location analysis , 2013, Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing.

[18]  A. L. Trejos,et al.  Feasibility of locating tumours in lung via kinaesthetic feedback , 2008, The international journal of medical robotics + computer assisted surgery : MRCAS.

[19]  Allison M. Okamura,et al.  Force modeling for needle insertion into soft tissue , 2004, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering.

[20]  J C Presti,et al.  Prostate cancer: assessment of risk using digital rectal examination, tumor grade, prostate-specific antigen, and systematic biopsy. , 2000, Radiologic clinics of North America.

[21]  D. Rubens,et al.  Tissue elasticity properties as biomarkers for prostate cancer. , 2008, Cancer biomarkers : section A of Disease markers.

[22]  Rajnikant V. Patel,et al.  Robot-assisted Tactile Sensing for Minimally Invasive Tumor Localization , 2009, Int. J. Robotics Res..

[23]  Allison M. Okamura,et al.  Behavior of Tip-Steerable Needles in Ex Vivo and In Vivo Tissue , 2012, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering.

[24]  Stephen B. Solomon,et al.  MRI-Safe Robot for Endorectal Prostate Biopsy , 2014, IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics.

[25]  R. Howe,et al.  Breast Tissue Stiffness in Compression is Correlated to Histological Diagnosis , 1999 .

[26]  Gabor Fichtinger,et al.  Design of a novel MRI compatible manipulator for image guided prostate interventions , 2005, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering.

[27]  R. Laing,et al.  Prostate brachytherapy has come of age: a review of the technique and results , 2002, BJU international.

[28]  Allison M. Okamura,et al.  Modeling of needle insertion forces for robot-assisted percutaneous therapy , 2002, Proceedings 2002 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Cat. No.02CH37292).