Challenges in image-guided therapy system design

Abstract

System development for Image-Guided Therapy (IGT), or Image-Guided Interventions (IGI), continues to be an area of active interest across academic and industry groups. This is an emerging field that is growing rapidly: major academic institutions and medical device manufacturers have produced IGT technologies that are in routine clinical use, dozens of high-impact publications are published in well regarded journals each year, and several small companies have successfully commercialized sophisticated IGT systems. In meetings between IGT investigators over the last two years, a consensus has emerged that several key areas must be addressed collaboratively by the community to reach the next level of impact and efficiency in IGT research and development to improve patient care. These meetings culminated in a two-day workshop that brought together several academic and industrial leaders in the field today. The goals of the Workshop were to identify gaps in the engineering infrastructure available to IGT researchers, develop the role of research funding agencies and the recently established National Center for Image Guided Therapy (NCIGT), and ultimately to facilitate the transfer of technology among NIH-sponsored research centers. Workshop discussions spanned many of the current challenges in the development and deployment of new IGT systems. Key challenges were identified in a number of areas, including:

Augmenting Surgery via Multi-scale Modeling and Translational Systems Biology in the Era of Precision Medicine: A Multidisciplinary Perspective

“…Surgical planning is key to optimize patient care and outcomes in the surgical setting 2, 3, 21, 30, 50 . The emerging consensus is that patient-specific, computer-based surgical planning, delivery, and guidance is the premise of Precision Medicine and is positioned to dramatically advance therapy 21, 30 .…”

“…The emerging consensus is that patient-specific, computer-based surgical planning, delivery, and guidance is the premise of Precision Medicine and is positioned to dramatically advance therapy 21, 30 . Computer simulations have revolutionized the fields of engineering (aerospace, automotive industry, civil engineering, etc.).…”

Ultrasound image guidance of cardiac interventions

“…53 Standardization of validation methodologies are also required to ensure proper comparison of different assessments conducted by different groups. 54 While a wide variety of techniques have been validated in the laboratory or in animal models, as their development continues, more systems will reach the stage where human testing and clinical trials will become necessary.…”

Navigation in Endoscopic Soft Tissue Surgery: Perspectives and Limitations

“…Two recently arranged workshops [14], [21] gave special focus on system design, integration into existing workflows, and validation of clinical outcomes. Although the technical progress of surgical navigation systems is varying between medical disciplines, there are several roadblocks, which have been identified to hamper in general a prospective system development and establishment of surgical navigation in clinical routine:…”