Background: Robotic systems are increasingly used to enhance clinical outcomes in prostate intervention. To evaluate the clinical value of the proposed portable robot, the robot-assisted and robot-targeted punctures were validated experimentally.
Method: The robot registration utilising the electromagnetic tracker achieves coordinate transformation from the ultrasound (US) image to the robot. Subsequently, Transrectal ultrasound (TRUS)-guided phantom trials were conducted for robot-assisted, free-hand, and robot-targeted punctures.
Results: The accuracy of robot registration was 0.95 mm, and the accuracy of robot-assisted, free-hand, and robot-targeted punctures was 2.38 ± 0.64 mm, 3.11 ± 0.72 mm, and 3.29 ± 0.83 mm sequentially.
Conclusion: The registration method has been successfully applied to robot-targeted puncture. Current results indicate that the accuracy of robot-targeted puncture is slightly inferior to that of manual operations. Moreover, in manual operation, robot-assisted puncture improves the accuracy of free-hand puncture. Accuracy superior to 3.5 mm demonstrates the clinical applicability of both robot-assisted and robot-targeted punctures.
Keywords: medical robotics; needle insertion; robot registration; robot-targeted puncture; ultrasound guide.
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