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Updated: Jul 7, 2026
Dynamic Lung Tumor Tracking for Stereotactic Ablative Body Radiation Therapy
Published on: June 7, 2015
Feasibility of locating tumours in lung via kinaesthetic feedback
G L McCreery1, A L Trejos, M D Naish
1Canadian Surgical Technologies & Advanced Robotics (CSTAR), London Health Sciences Centre, 339 Windermere Road, London, Ontario, Canada N6A 5A5.
Background:
Localizing lung tumours during minimally invasive surgery is difficult, since restricted access precludes manual palpation and pre-operative imaging cannot map directly to the intra-operative lung. This study analyses the force-sensing performance that would allow an instrumented kinaesthetic probe to localize tumours based on stiffness variations of the lung parenchyma.
Methods:
Agar injected into ex vivo porcine lungs produced a model approximating commonly encountered tumours. Force-deformation data were collected from multiple sites at various palpation depths and velocities, before and after the tumours were injected.
Results:
Analysis showed an increase in force after the tumours were injected, in the range 0.07-0.16 N at 7 mm (p < 10(-4)). A 2 mm/s palpation velocity minimized exponential stress decay at constant depths, facilitating easier comparisons between measurements.
Conclusion:
A sensing range of 0-2 N, with 0.01 N resolution, should allow a kinaesthetic palpation probe to resolve local tissue stiffness changes that suggest an underlying tumour.
