Assessing a Neurosurgical Robot (NEUROBOT) in In-Vitro and In-Vivo (Animal/Cadaveric) Models for Accuracy, Safety and It's Potential Clinical Utility

 

Author: –
Last Update: 5 Jan 2006 (Collaboration project with National Neuroscience Institute)

 

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:

Overview

Robotic systems are complex machines controlled by software modules implementing basic functions such as real-time servo-loops and programs which deal with supervision and action planning. The issue of robustness and dependability of such a system did not attract much attention in the robotics community in general, except for very critical applications like robotic assisted surgery. However, robotic assisted surgery will involve close interactions with surgeons.

Currently, there are commercial medical robots such as ROBODOC, Zeus and da Vinci, however, they are still not completely accepted by the medical community. Furthermore, the complex nature of these systems renders them unaffordable to government hospitals in developing countries. This clearly raises critical questions of physical safety and operating robustness. This is unlike the industrial robotics domain where the workspace of machines and humans can be segmented by defining when and where the physical contact and interaction with the user is.

Neurosurgical stereotactic applications requires spatial accuracy and precision targeting to reach the anatomy of interest while minimizing collateral damage. At present there exists no robotic system that performs a suite of neurosurgical procedures automatically.

We propose to adapt an industrial robot into an intelligent surgical robot, capable of performing simple neurosurgical procedures while maintaining safety in the operating theatre. The robot's clinical utility will be assessed in the following neurosurgical applications:

• Stereotactic Tumour Biopsies
• Depth-Electrode Placements
• Neuroendoscopies
• Oestemies and Mastoidectomies

The system will compose of three main modules, namely:

1. Planning module:

   This will allow the surgeon to plan the procedure pre-operatively while immersed in a virtual 3D environment with haptic feedback. The planned procedure will then be simulated to obtain optimised surgical parameters. Haptic feedback from the planning system will play an essential role in computer-aided robotic surgery in addition to preoperative detailed geometric information from patient CT/MRI images. Preoperative simulation and planning of surgical robot setups should accompany advanced robotic surgery with its advantages being further pursued. The motion of the surgical robot can be simulated and rehearsed with kinematics constraints, and the inverse-kinematics of the robot. Results from simulation using clinical patient data verify the effectiveness of the proposed system.

2. Navigation module:

   This will be based on frameless stereotaxy with the use of a non-invasive dental mouthpiece instead of inaccurate conventional skin markers. Not only will this module will be tracking the patient and robot while displaying their relative positions in 2D and 3D, other information such as the target lesion, the robot's intended path will also be augmented in the video feedback.

3. Robotic module:
   

   This will consist of an industrial robot that is adapted for safe interactions with humans using proximity sensors as well as dynamic force control to "sense" its own environment.