Automated biopsy path planning and navigation using a novel software-hardware platform

Purpose: Image-guided biopsy is essential for safe and precise procedures. Our primary objective was to develop a software-hardware platform to automate planning and assist the procedure intraoperatively. The novelty lies in a unique combination of modern computational approaches - a voxel-based needle representation on a DICOM-based cost-map with target insertion safety represented in a continuous way by a largest empty sphere, optimized with Differential Evolution, with partial experimental validation. Methods: This study presents a prototype hardware-software platform for biopsy assistance, featuring an optimization tool for preplanning and the MentorEye system for real-time needle navigation using a simple support setup. Evaluation was conducted on a custom skull phantom with brain tissue and cancerous lesions. The system optimizes needle paths while considering surrounding structures and provides intraoperative guidance. Results: The planning tool successfully generated viable trajectories for all lesions, typically aligning with the shortest insertion paths. The mean Target Registration Error between CT and optical navigation was 2.08 ± 0.43 mm, similar to that obtained in typical computer-assisted procedures. In seven simulations, all biopsies were successful, with a mean deviation of 2.15 ± 0.84 mm and an nRMSE of 3.7%, comparable even to that reported for robotic-assisted systems. Conclusions: The experiment results confirmed the good efficiency of the developed tools for automatic planning and image-guided biopsy aiding.