Needle insertion for percutaneous therapies is formulated as a trajectory planning and control problem. A new concept of needle steering is developed and a Needle Manipulation Jacobian is defined using numerical needle insertion models that include needle deflection and soft tissue deformation. This concept is used in conjunction with a potentialfield-based path planning technique to demonstrat...

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study is to determine the possible differences in deflection between two needles of same length and external gauge but with different internal gauges during truncal block of the inferior alveolar nerve. The initial working hypothesis was that greater deflection may be expected with larger internal gauge needles. STUDY DESIGN Four clinicians subjected 346 patient...

The tip asymmetry of a bevel-tip needle results in the needle naturally bending when it is inserted into soft tissue. This enables robotic needle steering, which can be used in medical procedures to reach subsurface targets inaccessible by straight-line trajectories. However, accurate path planning and control of needle steering requires models of needle-tissue interaction. Previous kinematic m...

Modeling the deflection of flexible needles is an essential part of needle insertion simulation and path planning. In this paper, three models are compared in terms of accuracy in simulating the bending of a prostate brachytherapy needle. The first two utilize the finite element method, one using geometric non-linearity and triangular plane elements, the other using non-linear beam elements. Th...

The Radio Shack VOM is an analog multimeter which can be used to measure voltage, current, and resistance. Determining the uncertainty of its measured values is simple enough — regardless of which function the meter is set for, the uncertainty of the measured value is based on the uncertainty in the needle position, which is reported by the manufacturer to be 3% of full deflection (except for A...

PURPOSE Optimization of prostate brachytherapy is constrained by tissue deflection of needles and fixed spacing of template holes. We developed and clinically tested a robotic guide toward the goal of allowing greater freedom of needle placement. METHODS AND MATERIALS The robot consists of a small tubular needle guide attached to a robotically controlled arm. The apparatus is mounted and cali...

N. Hata, P. Blumenfeld, S. DiMaio, K. Zou, S. Haker, C. M. Tempany Radiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States INTRODUCTION Magnetic Resonance Image-guided prostate biopsy provides an alternative approach to detect and diagnose prostate cancer (1-3). The biopsies targeted at suspected tumor foci, observed in 1.5T and/or 0.5T pre-procedural image...

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