Photoacoustic visual servoing of needle tips to improve biopsy on obese patients

摘要

Ultrasound guided biopsies are useful for real-time, simultaneous visualization of both the target region and the needle tip. However, localizing the needle tip in traditional ultrasound images often requires complicated image processing with segmentation algorithms that tend to fail in the presence of acoustic clutter, scattering, and attenuation, which is particularly true in obese patients. Photoacoustic imaging is a promising alternative with the potential to provide needle tip localization and segmentation algorithms that are robust in the presence of highly scattering tissues. In addition, segmentation results can be used to visually servo an ultrasound probe to track the needle tip, thus expanding the possibilities for procedures implemented with the biopsy needle separated from the probe. This work presents the development and evaluation of the first robotic photoacoustic system that maintains the needle tip at the center of co-registered photoacoustic and ultrasound images.