Safe Start Regions for Medical Steerable Needle Automation

Area of Science:

• Medical Robotics
• Minimally Invasive Surgery
• Surgical Navigation

Background:

• Steerable needles enable complex medical procedures by navigating curved paths around anatomical structures.
• Accurate placement of steerable needles at the start pose is crucial for successful robotic deployment.
• Deviations in start pose can significantly alter the needle's reachable workspace and procedural outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce a novel start pose robustness metric for steerable needle motion plans.
• To quantify the allowable deviation in start pose (position and orientation) for successful target reachability.
• To enhance the reliability of human-robot handoff in steerable needle procedures.

Main Methods:

• Developed a new metric based on a geometric method to compute start pose robustness.
• Simulated steerable needle deployments in liver and lung anatomical models.
• Evaluated the metric's applicability to various motion planning algorithms.

Main Results:

• The proposed metric efficiently computes the safe region for steerable needle start poses.
• Demonstrated that the metric can be applied to plans generated by different motion planners.
• Showcased the metric's utility in selecting motion plans with larger safe start regions.

Conclusions:

• The new start pose robustness metric enhances the safety and reliability of steerable needle procedures.
• This metric facilitates the selection of optimal motion plans, ensuring greater procedural success.
• The geometric approach provides an efficient way to assess and improve human-robot interaction in robotic surgery.