Toward effective needle steering in brain tissue

Recent research has exploited the inherent bending of a bevel-tipped needle during insertion, accomplishing steering of the needle by rotating the needle shaft. Combining this technique with the observation that a straight trajectory can be accomplished by spinning the needle at a constant rate during insertion, this paper presents a novel technique for proportional control of the curvature of the trajectory via duty-cycled spinning of the needle. In order to accommodate this technique to very soft tissues such as the brain, several custom needle prototypes have also been designed in order to increase the steering versatility of the system by maximizing the attainable curvature. The paper describes the needle-steering system and the needle prototypes, and presents preliminary results from tests in an artificial brain tissue substitute.