A Hand-Held Assistant for Semiautomated Percutaneous Needle Steering

Area of Science:

• Medical Devices
• Surgical Technology
• Oncology

Background:

• Prostate brachytherapy is a common prostate cancer treatment.
• Manual needle insertion challenges limit treatment to the entire prostate gland, even for localized cancer.
• Needle deflection during manual insertion reduces placement accuracy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a novel semiautomated hand-held needle steering assistant for prostate brachytherapy.
• To improve needle placement accuracy and enable more precise treatment.
• To assist surgeons in achieving desired needle trajectories.

Main Methods:

• A compact device attaches to standard brachytherapy needles.
• The device rotates the needle base based on calculated actions derived from a needle-tissue interaction model.
• Ultrasound imaging guides the steering algorithm, and microvibrations reduce friction.

Main Results:

• Experimental validation in phantom and ex-vivo tissues demonstrated high accuracy.
• An average needle targeting accuracy of 0.33 mm was achieved over 72 insertions.
• The system was tested across 12 different experimental scenarios.

Conclusions:

• A new framework for needle steering in prostate brachytherapy was developed.
• The surgeon maintains control over needle insertion.
• The lightweight (160g) device integrates seamlessly with existing techniques.