Estimating needle-tissue interaction forces for hollow needles using Fiber Bragg Grating Sensors

摘要

Brachytherapy and neurological procedures can benefit from real-time estimation of needle-tissue interaction forces, specifically for robotic or robot-assisted procedures. Fiber Bragg Grating Sensors provide advantages of very small size and electromagnetic immunity for use in measurement of the forces directly at the needle tip. This has advantages compared to measurements at the needle shaft which require extensive models of the friction between needle and tissues with varying depth. This paper presents the measurement of tip forces for a hollow needle and compensation for bending when encountering regions of varying stiffness in phantoms with multiple layers prepared using Polydimethylsiloxane.