Robotic Transrectal Ultrasound Guided Prostate Biopsy

Area of Science:

• Robotics in Medicine
• Medical Imaging
• Surgical Technology

Background:

• Prostate biopsy accuracy is crucial for cancer detection.
• Current transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) guided biopsies can be limited by manual probe manipulation and prostate deformation.
• Improving precision in prostate biopsy can lead to better clinical outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce a robot-assisted system for hands-free TRUS guided prostate biopsy.
• To develop methods for minimizing prostate deformation during imaging and needle targeting.
• To present a prostate coordinate system (PCS) for systematic biopsy planning.

Main Methods:

• A 4 Degrees of Freedom (DoF) hands-free probe manipulator was developed.
• Software for 3D imaging, biopsy planning, robot control, and navigation was created.
• Methods to reduce prostate deformation and a PCS were implemented and tested.

Main Results:

• Preclinical tests demonstrated image-based needle targeting accuracy within 1 mm.
• Prostate biopsy was achieved with minimal TRUS pressure and submillimetric deformations.
• Clinical trials on five patients showed successful procedures with millimeter targeting accuracy in an average of 13 minutes.

Conclusions:

• Robot-assisted TRUS guided prostate biopsy is safe and feasible.
• The developed system and PCS offer novel methods for precise biopsy.
• Accurate needle targeting has the potential to improve the detection rate of clinically significant prostate cancer.