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Toward a miniaturized needle steering system with path planning for obstacle avoidance.

Seong Young Ko¹, Ferdinando Rodriguez y Baena

¹Department of Mechanical Engineering, Imperial College London, London, UK. sko@jnu.ac.kr

IEEE Transactions on Bio-Medical Engineering

|November 30, 2012

Summary

A miniaturized, biologically inspired surgical needle, the soft tissue intervention and neurosurgical guide (STING), successfully steers complex paths. This new device achieves precise trajectory following in soft tissues, advancing minimally invasive surgery.

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Area of Science:

Minimally Invasive Surgery
Robotics
Biomedical Engineering

Background:

Percutaneous interventions are crucial in modern surgery.
Existing steerable needles face limitations in maneuverability and control.
The soft tissue intervention and neurosurgical guide (STING) offers a novel approach to needle steering.

Purpose of the Study:

To design and manufacture a miniaturized 4-mm outer diameter (OD) prototype of the STING system.
To evaluate the steering capabilities and trajectory-following accuracy of the miniaturized STING.
To develop and integrate a novel path planner with obstacle avoidance for the STING system.

Main Methods:

Design and fabrication of a two-part, 4-mm OD STING prototype with a specialized trocar and insertion mechanism.

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Integration of an embedded position sensor for real-time control.

Development of a differentiable path planner considering curvature constraints and obstacle avoidance.

In vitro testing in gelatin to assess trajectory following accuracy.

Main Results:

The 4-mm OD STING prototype demonstrated effective steering around tight bends (radius of curvature ~70 mm).
The integrated system achieved accurate 2-D trajectory following with a 0.1 mm tracking error and 0.64 mm standard deviation.
The novel path planner successfully generated feasible and safe trajectories.

Conclusions:

The miniaturized STING prototype shows promising performance for complex percutaneous interventions.
The developed path planner enhances the safety and precision of steerable needle systems.
Further improvements are expected to enhance the capabilities of this steerable needle technology.