[biomed] physorg: robot that performs breast-biopsies guided by 3D ultrasound

[Alejandro Dubrovsky]

(
http://www.physorg.com/news153510630.html
)

Researchers Develop Breast Biopsy Robot
February 10th, 2009 By Richard Merritt in Medicine & Health / Research

(PhysOrg.com) -- The results of proof-of-feasibility studies lead the
researchers to believe that routine medical procedures such as breast
biopsies will be performed in the future with minimal human guidance,
and at greater convenience and less cost to patients.


The researchers envision a scenario in the near future where women can
get an unassisted one-stop breast exam and biopsy, if needed. For
example, a woman would get a mammogram and if anything suspicious is
found, a robot could guide a needle to the spot and get a tissue sample.

For their experiments, the engineers started with a rudimentary tabletop
robot whose “eyes” used a novel 3-D ultrasound technology developed at
Duke. An artificial intelligence program served as the robot’s “brain”
by taking the real-time 3-D information, processing it, and giving the
robot specific commands to perform.

“After detecting the ‘lesion’ in a simulated breast, the robot was able
to calculate its position and then guide a biopsy to its exact
location,” said Ned Light, an engineer in the laboratory of Stephen
Smith, director of the Duke University Ultrasound Transducer Group and
senior member of the research team.

Light presented the results of the Duke experiments, which were carried
out by Duke biomedical engineering student A.J. Rogers, at the Society
of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers’ annual Medical Imaging
scientific sessions in Orlando, Fla.

Since the researchers achieved positive results using a rudimentary
robot and a basic artificial intelligence program, they are encouraged
that simple and reasonably safe procedures will become routine in the
near future as robot and artificial intelligence technology improves.

“The technology behind robotic surgery has grown dramatically, as
evidenced by the Da Vinci robot system, which is widely used in U.S.
hospitals,” Smith said. “The same is true of artificial intelligence,
which was unknown 20 years ago, and is now the standard in screening
pathology samples.

“Based on the results we’ve seen in our laboratory, I am confident that
within five to 10 years, robots will be performing routine breast
biopsies,” Smith said.

Advances in ultrasound technology have made these latest experiments
possible, the researchers said, by generating detailed, 3-D moving
images in real-time. The Duke team has a long track record of modifying
traditional 2-D ultrasound -- like that used to image babies in utero --
into the more advanced 3-D scans. After inventing the technique in 1991,
the team also has shown its utility in developing specialized catheters
and endoscopes for real-time imaging of blood vessels in the heart and
brain.

In the latest experiments, the robot successfully performed its main
task: directing a needle on the end of the robotic arm to touch a tiny
piece of metal embedded inside simulated sponge breast, or phantom. The
tiny pieces of metal were sized to represent microcalcifications, tiny
deposits of calcium often found in the breast.

"Most of the time these deposits prove benign, but they can be a
precursor to cancer,” Light said. “If the mammogram and follow-up
ultrasound show that the microcalcifications are suspicious, a biopsy
may be in order."

The robot used the latest experiments is a tabletop version capable of
moving in three axes. For the next series of tests, the Duke researchers
plan to use a robotic arm with six-axis capability. The ability of the
new robot to find and direct a needle to the appropriate site will next
be tested in turkey breasts, which approximate the density of human
breast tissue.

Provided by Duke University