A Portable Robot to Perform Prostate Brachytherapy with Active Needle Steering and Robot-Assisted Ultrasound Tracking

Abstract

Brachytherapy is an internal radiation therapy method for prostate cancer that involves placement of radioactive seeds close to the cancerous cells. Robotic needle insertion systems have been proposed in the past to help physicians to improve outcomes of brachytherapy. This work presents design and development of a portable robotic brachytherapy system to operate a tendon-driven active needle based on physician’s input. The system enables manual positioning of the needle to choose appropriate puncture positions as well as robotic manipulation mechanisms for needle insertion and bending. The system also allows for automatic movement of an ultrasound probe to visualize the needle tip in a needle insertion task in real time.