Flexible needle posture control stratagem for ultrasound-based puncture manipulator system

Abstract

This paper introduces a flexible puncture method that can improve the efficiency and safety of robot-assisted central venous catheterization (CVC) surgery systems. Current CVC surgery-assisted manipulators and systems are mainly focused methods for puncture needle insertion into blood vessels. There is no single systematic stratagem for safe high-precision control of the posture of the needle in a blood vessel after needle insertion. However, this type of control stratagem is both necessary and urgently required in surgery to avoid piercing the central vein and to provide a suitable posture for guide wire insertion. Therefore, we propose the remote centre of motion control method to control the needle’s posture precisely and safely. Verification experiments were performed in both a simulator and a puncture manipulator. The results indicate that the needle tip trajectory in the simulation is completely accurate and it also agrees well with the theoretical value. The positional and angular errors of the needle tip are smaller than 0.8 mm and 1.8°, respectively, in the real puncture manipulator experiment; these errors are sufficiently small for surgeries. The proposed design is practical and can be used in real puncture manipulators and systems.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS:

• Puncture assistance system
• remote centre of motion
• ultrasound image navigation
• medical robot
• image processing

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and Shenzhen Robot Research Program under grant number U1613221; and in part by the National Key Research and Development Program under grant number 2017YFC0110500.

Notes on contributors

Bo Zhang

Bo Zhang received MS and PhD degrees from the Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, Japan in 2009 and 2012, respectively. His research interests include minimally invasive surgical robots, image-based medical assistant robots and medical augmented reality (AR) systems.

Kui Chen

Kui Chen received the MS degree from the School of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering, South China University of Technology in 2013 and the PhD degree from the School of Creative Science and Engineering, Waseda University, Japan in 2018. His research interests include disaster rescue robotics, image-based medical assistant robots and medical augmented reality (AR) systems.

Zheming Zhang

Zheming Zhang received the BS degree from the Department of Modern Mechanical Engineering, Waseda University, Japan in 2012 and the MS degree from the University of Michigan, USA in 2014. His research interests include mechatronics and medical robots.

Lei Zhang

Lei Zhang received MS and PhD degrees in mechanical design and theory from the University of Science and Technology, Beijing in 2003 and 2008, respectively. His research interests include control mechanisms for minimally invasive surgical robots, system integration methods, and design of innovative surgical instruments.

Liqun Zhang

Liqun Zhang received the BS degree from the School of Mechanical Engineering, North Unversity of China in 2009. His research interests include medical equipment and intelligent prostheses.

Wennan Luan

Wennan Luan received the BS degree from the School of Electronic Information Engineering, North China University of Technology. Her research interests include medical device control and medical deep learning image processing.

Qiang Huang

Qiang Huang received the MS and PhD degrees in Engineering from Harbin Institute of Technology in 1989 and from Waseda University, Japan in 1996, respectively. He was a research fellow at the Industrial Technology Agency of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (now known as METI) of Japan from 1996 to 1999, and at the University of Tokyo, Japan from 1999 to 2000. Since 2000, he has been a professor at Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT). His research interests include research and development of biomimetic robots, micro nanorobotics, and biomechatronic integration.

Masakatsu G. Fujie

Masakatsu G. Fujie received the MS degree from the Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan, in 1971, and the PhD degree in engineering from Waseda University in 1999. From 1971 to 2000, he was with the Mechanical Engineering Research Laboratory, Hitachi Ltd., where he was a Senior Researcher from 1984 and a Principal Researcher and Project Leader for the Medical and Welfare Apparatus Development Project from 1995. He was also the Head of Researchers in the Mechanical Engineering Research Laboratory, Hitachi Ltd., and the Director of the Medical and Welfare Apparatus Development Research Laboratory from 1999. Since 2001, he has been a Professor with the Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, where he is the Director of The Global Robot Academia for the MEXT Global COE Program. His current research interests include surgical robots, image-guided surgery, endoscopic surgery, and assistive and rehabilitation robots. Prof. Fujie is a Fellow of the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineering (JSME) and a member of the International Society of Computer-Aided Surgery. He received the Atomic Energy Society of Japan’s Technology Development Award (1991), the Notable Invention Award from the Science and Technology Agency’s Director General (1994), the Technical Innovations Awards from the Robotics Society of Japan (1999), the JSME Medal for New Technology from the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers (2000), the Nikkei BP Technology Award, Medical/Biotechnology Division (2000), the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers, Robotics and Mechatronics Division, Technical Achievement Award (2000), the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers ROBOMEC Award (2006), and the IEEE Harashima Award (2008).