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Robot-assisted Tactile Sensing for Minimally Invasive Tumor Localization

Canadian Surgical Technologies and Advanced Robotics (CSTAR), 339 Windermere Road, London, Ontario, Canada, analuisa.trejos{at}lhsc.on.ca

J. Jayender

Canadian Surgical Technologies and Advanced Robotics (CSTAR), 339 Windermere Road, London, Ontario, Canada analuisa, jayender{at}gmail.com

M.T. Perri

Canadian Surgical Technologies and Advanced Robotics (CSTAR), 339 Windermere Road, London, Ontario, Canada analuisa, mperri{at}uwo.ca

M.D. Naish

Department of Mechanical & Materials Engineering and Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of Western Ontario, and CSTAR, London, Ontario, Canada, naish{at}eng.uwo.ca

R.V. Patel

Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, and Department of Surgery, The University of Western Ontario, and CSTAR, London, Ontario, Canada, rajni.patel{at}lhsc.on.ca

R.A. Malthaner

Department of Surgery, The University of Western Ontario, and CSTAR, London, Ontario, Canada, richard.malthaner{at}lhsc.on.ca

The 10 mm incisions used in minimally invasive cancer surgery prevent the direct palpation of internal organs, making intraoperative tumor localization difficult. A tactile sensing instrument (TSI), which uses a commercially available sensor to measure distributed pressure profiles along the contacting surface, has been developed to facilitate remote tissue palpation. The objective of this research is to assess the feasibility of using the TSI under robotic control to reliably locate underlying tumors while reducing collateral tissue trauma. The performance of humans and a robot using the TSI to locate tumor phantoms embedded into ex vivo bovine livers is compared. An augmented hybrid impedance control scheme has been implemented on a Mitsubishi PA10-7C to perform the force/position control used in the trials. The results show that using the TSI under robotic control realizes an average 35% decrease in the maximum forces applied and a 50% increase in tumor detection accuracy when compared to manual manipulation of the same instrument. This demonstrates that the detection of tumors using tactile sensing is highly dependent on how consistently the forces on the tactile sensing area are applied, and that robotic assistance can be of great benefit when trying to localize tumors in minimally invasive surgery.

Key Words: minimally invasive surgery and therapy • smart instruments • tactile sensing • tumor localization • medical robotics

This version was published on September 1, 2009

The International Journal of Robotics Research, Vol. 28, No. 9, 1118-1133 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0278364909101136


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