Augmented reality and haptic interfaces for robot-assisted surgery.

Background: Current teleoperated robot-assisted minimally invasive surgical systems do not take full advantage of the potential performance enhancements offered by various forms of haptic feedback to the surgeon. Direct and graphical haptic feedback systems can be integrated with vision and robot control systems in order to provide haptic feedback to improve safety and tissue mechanical property identification.

Methods: An interoperable interface for teleoperated robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery was developed to provide haptic feedback and augmented visual feedback using three-dimensional (3D) graphical overlays.

Teleoperated master-slave needle insertion.

Background: Accuracy of needle tip placement and needle tracking in soft tissue are of particular importance in many medical procedures. In recent years, developing autonomous and teleoperated systems for needle insertion has become an active area of research.

Methods: In this study, needle insertion was performed using a master-slave set-up with multi-degrees of freedom.

Effects of different insertion methods on reducing needle deflection.

Needle steering in medical procedures has attracted considerable attention in recent years. For example, in prostate brachytherapy, it is desired to insert a flexible beveled-tip needle with minimum deflection. To date, different methods of insertion which incorporate needle rotation about its insertion axis have been proposed in order to reduce needle deflection and target displacement.

Deflection of a flexible needle during insertion into soft tissue.

Accurate needle insertion into soft, inhomogeneous tissue is of practical interest because of its importance in percutaneous diagnosis and therapies. The needles used in such procedures are usually long flexible needles with bevel tips that can deflect during insertion. Deflection of the needle can not only cause misplacement of the needle tip at the target but can also cause the needle to deviate from the planned path due to the curvature created along the needle shaft.

Minimization of needle deflection in robot-assisted percutaneous therapy.

Background: Needle deflection and tissue deformation are two problems encountered during needle insertion into soft, non-homogeneous tissue. They affect the accuracy of needle placement, which in turn affects the effectiveness of needle-based therapies and biopsies.

Methods: In this study, a needle is inserted using a robot with two degrees of freedom.

Trajectory generation for robotic needle insertion in soft tissue.

Accurate needle insertion in soft, inhomogeneous tissue has been a major concern in several recent studies involving robot-assisted percutaneous therapies. In procedures that involve multiple needle insertions such as transrectal ultrasound guided prostate brachytherapy, it is important to reduce tissue deformation before puncture and during insertion. In order to reduce this deformation, we have studied the effect of different trajectories for a 2-DOF robot performing needle insertion in soft tissue.

Needle insertion into soft tissue: a survey.

Needle insertion in soft tissue has attracted considerable attention in recent years due to its application in minimally invasive percutaneous procedures such as biopsies and brachytherapy. This paper presents a survey of the current state of research on needle insertion in soft tissue. It examines the topic from several aspects, e.

Control of soft tissue deformation during robotic needle insertion.

Accurate needle insertion into soft, inhomogeneous tissue is of practical interest because of its importance in percutaneous therapies. In procedures that involve multiple needle insertions such as transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate brachytherapy, it is important to reduce tissue deformation before puncture and during needle insertion. In order to reduce this deformation, we have studied the effect of different trajectories for a 2-DOF (degrees of freedom) robot performing needle insertion in soft tissue.