Robot-assisted Ultrasound-guided Tracking of Anatomical Structures for the Application of Focused Ultrasound

Abstract

High intensity focused ultrasound is used as a surgical tool to treat completely non-invasively several diseases. Examples of clinical applications are uterine fibroids, prostate cancer, thyroid nodules, and varicose veins. Precise targeting is key for improving the treatment outcome. A method for an automated, robot-assisted tracking system was developed and evaluated. A wireless ultrasound scanner was used to acquire images of the target, in this case, a blood vessel. The active contour approach by Chan and Vese was used to segment and track while moving the scanner along the target structure with a collaborative robotic arm. The performance was assessed using a custom made Agar phantom. The mean tracking error, which is defined as the remaining distance of the lesion to the images’ centre line, was 0.27 mm ± 0.18 mm.

Remote Ultrasound Scan Procedures with Medical Robots: Towards New Perspectives between Medicine and Engineering

“…In particular, these proposed solutions should be correctly interfaced with a reliable storage and communication system within healthcare networks based on standards such as Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) [60] and Health Level 7 (HL7) [61]. Examples of recent DICOM and/or HL7 compliant solutions can be found in [62][63][64]. By using a KUKA LBR medical robot [65], the authors of [62] proposed a completely autonomous tracking system to improve the focus of ultrasound scan images, storing the image flows following the DICOM standard.…”

“…Examples of recent DICOM and/or HL7 compliant solutions can be found in [62][63][64]. By using a KUKA LBR medical robot [65], the authors of [62] proposed a completely autonomous tracking system to improve the focus of ultrasound scan images, storing the image flows following the DICOM standard. In this case, image flows are needed to determine tracking actions.…”

Robot-Assisted Image-Guided Interventions

“…The second arm will position a therapeutic instrument, e.g., needle holder or FUS transducer, according to the planned trajectory. The system was further improved to automatically track anatomical structures using US-guidance ( Unger et al, 2020 ). By automatically segmenting a targeted vessel, the system was able to follow the trajectory of that vessel while maintaining the coupling between the ultrasound probe and the skin surface.…”

VeniBot: Towards Autonomous Venipuncture with Semi-supervised Vein Segmentation from Ultrasound Images

“…KUKA AG invented a robot arm holding a wireless ultrasound probe as an automatically robot-assisted tracking system to scan the vessel. It uses active contours to segment the vessel and it works on phantoms [12].…”