Optimal planning and data acquisition for robotic ultrasound-guided spinal needle injection

Supervision: Dr. Christoph Hennersperger, Salvatore Virga, Javier Esteban Prof. Dr. Nassir Navab Student: Sebastian Raquena Witzig

Abstract

Facet-joint syndrome is the one of the main causes of back pain that at least around eighty percent of the population has suffered during their lifetime. Current clinical practice requires injections of analgesics in the lumbar region of the spine as this is the main area of pain suffering. This procedure is done under CT guidance for which in every injection around ten control images are required if no perfect initial placement.

is achieved. As a consequence, not only patients but also medical staff is exposed to dangerous amounts of radiation over time. In this work we propose and evaluate an ultrasound-guided visual servoing technique using a robotic arm equipped with an ultrasound probe and needle guide. Based on first results demonstrated with a proof of concept, an initial panoramic 3D-ultrasound scan is registered to existing CT data. As this step was limited to rigid alignments between CT and 3D-US data, this work specifically focuses on the optimal acquisition of panoramic robotic ultrasound scans allowing for accurate surgical pre-planning, as well as the intra-operative registration of CT- and ultrasound datasets in a deformable way. The project will be integrated within an intuitive visualization tool for both the acquired ultrasound datasets as well as planned trajectories, and also focus on required servoing techniques to directly approach the planned target using facet joint injection needles.