School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA.
Center for Interventional Oncology, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
Ann Biomed Eng. 2020 Apr;48(4):1147-1156. doi: 10.1007/s10439-019-02436-5. Epub 2019 Dec 12.
Minimally invasive surgical procedures often require needle insertion. For these procedures, efficacy greatly depends on precise needle placement. Many methods, such as optical tracking and electromagnetic tracking, have been applied to assist needle placement by tracking the real-time position information of the needle. Compared with the optical tracking method, electromagnetic tracking is more suitable for minimally invasive surgery since it has no requirement of line-of-sight. However, the devices needed for electromagnetic tracking are usually expensive, which will increase the cost of surgery. In this study, we presented a low-cost smartphone-based permanent magnet tracking method compatible with CT imaging and designed a 3D printed operation platform to assist with needle placement prior to needle insertion during minimally invasive surgery. The needle positioning accuracy of this method was tested in an open air test and a prostate phantom test in a CT environment. For these two tests, the average radial errors were 0.47 and 2.25 mm, respectively, and the standard deviations were 0.29 and 1.63, respectively. The materials and fabrication required for the presented method are inexpensive. Thus, many image-guided therapies may benefit from the presented method as a low-cost option for needle positioning prior to needle insertion.
微创手术通常需要进行针的插入。对于这些手术，其有效性在很大程度上取决于针的精确放置。已经有许多方法，如光学跟踪和电磁跟踪，被应用于通过跟踪针的实时位置信息来辅助针的放置。与光学跟踪方法相比，电磁跟踪更适合微创手术，因为它不需要视线。然而，电磁跟踪所需的设备通常很昂贵，这将增加手术的成本。在这项研究中，我们提出了一种基于低成本智能手机的与 CT 成像兼容的永磁跟踪方法，并设计了一个 3D 打印的操作平台，以在微创手术前的针插入过程中辅助针的放置。在开放空气测试和 CT 环境下的前列腺模型测试中，对该方法的针定位准确性进行了测试。对于这两种测试，平均径向误差分别为 0.47mm 和 2.25mm，标准差分别为 0.29mm 和 1.63mm。该方法所需的材料和制造都很便宜。因此，许多图像引导治疗可能受益于该方法，作为针插入前的低成本针定位选择。
