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Updated: Jun 6, 2026
Evaluating Targeting Accuracy in the Focal Plane for an Ultrasound-guided High-intensity Focused Ultrasound Phased-array System
Published on: March 6, 2019
Ex vivo accuracy evaluation for robot assisted laser bone ablation
J Burgner1, M Müller, J Raczkowsky
1Institute for Process Control and Robotics (IPR), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany. jessica.burgner@vanderbilt.edu
Background:
Cutting bony tissue using short-pulsed laser ablation enables contact-free processing in arbitrary shapes and with considerably smaller incision widths compared with mechanical tools. This precise method necessitates assistance by robotic surgery.
Methods:
Using a prototype system for robot assisted laser bone ablation, the complete workflow was evaluated. Planning of cutting incisions was performed based on CT datasets of an ex vivo bone of a pig. After registration the preplanned cutting was executed autonomously by the robot assisted laser ablation system.
Results:
Evaluation of post-operative measurements revealed an overall positioning accuracy of less than 0.5 mm.
Conclusion:
Robot assisted laser bone ablation has the potential to revolutionize surgery, especially in those interventions where the accuracy achievable manually is not sufficient.
