Automated planning of curved needle channels in 3D printed patient-tailored applicators for cervical cancer brachytherapy.

Patient-tailored intracavitary/interstitial (IC/IS) brachytherapy (BT) applicators may increase dose conformity in cervical cancer patients. Current configuration planning methods in these custom applicators rely on manual specification or a small set of (straight) needles. This work introduces and validates a two-stage approach for establishing channel configurations in the 3D printed patient-tailored ARCHITECT applicator.

Plasma Device Functions and Tissue Effects in the Female Pelvis-A Systematic Review.

Medical use of (non-)thermal plasmas is an emerging field in gynaecology. However, data on plasma energy dispersion remain limited. This systematic review presents an overview of plasma devices, fields of effective application, and impact of use factors and device settings on tissues in the female pelvis, including the uterus, ovaries, cervix, vagina, vulva, colon, omentum, mesenterium, and peritoneum.

Patient-Reported Mobility, Physical Activity, and Bicycle Use after Vulvar Carcinoma Surgery.

Patients treated for vulvar carcinoma may experience losses in mobility and physical activity. In this study, we assess the prevalence and severity of mobility problems using patient-reported outcomes of three questionnaires: EQ-5D-5L to estimate QoL and perceived health; SQUASH to estimate habitual physical activity; and a problem-specific questionnaire on bicycling. Patients treated for vulvar carcinoma between 2018 and 2021 were recruited, and 84 (62.

The effects of neutral argon plasma versus electrocoagulation on tissue in advanced-stage ovarian cancer: a case series.

Background: The aim of surgery for advanced-stage ovarian cancer is a complete cytoreduction, because this is the most important independent prognostic factor for prolonged survival. Yet this can be difficult to achieve when there are micrometastases on the intestinal mesentery or intestines. The PlasmaJet device is an instrument to remove these micrometastases, but little is known about the depth of damage in human tissue compared to electrocoagulation devices.

Hyperspectral Imaging for Tissue Classification after Advanced Stage Ovarian Cancer Surgery-A Pilot Study.

The most important prognostic factor for the survival of advanced-stage epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is the completeness of cytoreductive surgery (CRS). Therefore, an intraoperative technique to detect microscopic tumors would be of great value. The aim of this pilot study is to assess the feasibility of near-infrared hyperspectral imaging (HSI) for EOC detection in ex vivo tissue samples.

Block-matching-based registration to evaluate ultrasound visibility of percutaneous needles in liver-mimicking phantoms.

Purpose: To present a novel methodical approach to compare visibility of percutaneous needles in ultrasound images.

Methods: A motor-driven rotation platform was used to gradually change the needle angle while capturing image data. Data analysis was automated using block-matching-based registration, with a tracking and refinement step.

An anthropomorphic deformable phantom of the vaginal wall and cavity.

Brachytherapy is a common treatment in cervical, uterine and vaginal cancer management. The technique is characterised by rapid developments in the fields of medical imaging, dosimetry planning and personalised medical device design. To reduce unnecessary burden on patients, assessments and training of these technologies should preferable be done using high-fidelity physical phantoms.

Raman spectroscopy for guidance of vulvar cancer surgery: a pilot study.

For vulvar squamous cell carcinoma (VSCC), the mainstay of treatment is surgical removal with tumour-free margins. Surgeons still operate without objective tools that provide margin-status. This study assesses Raman spectroscopy potentiality for distinguishing ex-vivo VSCC from healthy tissue in 11 patients.

Steerable needles for radio-frequency ablation in cirrhotic livers.

Accurate needle placement in deep-seated liver tumours can be difficult. In this work, we disclose two new manually controlled steerable needles for 17G radio-frequency ablation probe placement. The needles contain stylets with embedded compliant joints for active tip articulations, and concentric tubes for (curved-path) guidance.

Lethal smothering with a pillow - How 181 music festival visitors tried to kill a dummy.

Purpose: Smothering to death is most often done with a soft cover, such as a pillow. This is one of the hardest to diagnose causes of death. Knowing more about how people perform such an act and whether there is any correlation between perpetrator characteristics and smothering approaches may help in solving criminal cases involving smothering.

MRI-driven design of customised 3D printed gynaecological brachytherapy applicators with curved needle channels.

Background: Brachytherapy involves placement of radioactive sources inside or near the tumour. For gynaecological cancer, recent developments, including 3D imaging and image-guided adaptive brachytherapy, have improved treatment quality and outcomes. However, for large or complex tumours, target coverage and local control with commercially available applicators remain suboptimal.

A Methodical Quantification of Needle Visibility and Echogenicity in Ultrasound Images.

During ultrasound-guided percutaneous interventions, needle localization can be a challenge. To increase needle visibility, enhancements of both the imaging methods and the needle surface properties have been investigated. However, a methodical approach to compare potential solutions is currently unavailable.

Needle placement errors: do we need steerable needles in interventional radiology?

Purpose: Accurate and precise needle placement is of utmost importance in interventional radiology. However, targeting can be challenging due to, eg, tissue motion and deformation. Steerable needles are a possible solution to overcome these challenges.

The influence of tip shape on bending force during needle insertion.

Steering of needles involves the planning and timely modifying of instrument-tissue force interactions to allow for controlled deflections during the insertion in tissue. In this work, the effect of tip shape on these forces was studied using 10 mm diameter needle tips. Six different tips were selected, including beveled and conical versions, with or without pre-bend or pre-curve.

Endpoint Accuracy in Manual Control of a Steerable Needle.

Purpose: To study the ability of a human operator to manually correct for errors in the needle insertion path without partial withdrawal of the needle by means of an active, tip-articulated steerable needle.

Materials And Methods: The needle is composed of a 1.32-mm outer-diameter cannula, with a flexure joint near the tip, and a retractable stylet.

Design of an actively controlled steerable needle with tendon actuation and FBG-based shape sensing.

This work presents a new steerable needle to facilitate active steering toward predefined target locations. It focuses on mechanical aspects and design choices in relation to the observed response in a tissue phantom. Tip steering with two rotational degrees of freedom was achieved by a tendon actuated ball joint mechanism.