Current technology in navigation and robotics for liver tumours ablation

Radiofrequecy ablation is the most widely used local ablative therapy for both primary and metastatic liver tumours. However, it has limited application in the treatment of large tumours (tumours >3cm) and multicentric tumours. In recent years, many strategies have been developed to extend the application of radiofrequency ablation to large tumours. A promising approach is to take advantage of the rapid advancement in imaging and robotic technologies to construct an integrated surgical navigation and medical robotic system. This paper presents a review of existing surgical navigation methods and medical robots. We also introduce our current developed model - Transcutaneous Robot-assisted Ablation-device Insertion Navigation System (TRAINS). The clinical viability of this prototyped integrated navigation and robotic system for large and multicentric tumors is demonstrated using animal experiments.