Updates on the MURAB project

The MURAB project (EU H2020 MRI and Ultrasound Robotic Assisted Biopsy) has entered its second year. re are some details from their ERF2017 teaser:

Clinical  and  technological  objectives:

 Improve  precision  and  effectiveness  of  the  biopsy  procedure  for  cancer  diagnostic   purposes.

• Enabling  US-guided  biopsies  of  lesions  that  are  not  visible  on  US  image
• Patient  discomfort  reduction 
• Efficiency  increase 
• Autonomous  navigation  for  a  robotic  scanning  sequence  with  ultrasound 
• Modelling  of  biomechanical  properties   
• Tissue  Active  SLAM  (Simultaneous  Localisation  And  Mapping)  in  which  a  (deformed)  3D     tissue  environment  will  be  reconstructed  from  US  images  and  elastographic data.

Phases:

1. MRI  acquisition  and  lesion  localization 
2. MRI  to  base  coordinates 
3. Ultrasound  scanning 
4. Deformable  tissue  modelling  and  fusion 
5. Elastography 
6. Robotic  control  and  SLAM  for  needle  biopsy

Imaging  for  optimal  needle  insertion:

• Landmark  localization  and  lesion  segmentation 
• Design  multimodality  markers
• 3D  ultrasound  scanning 
• Fixation  of  breast  - cone 
• Simulations  of  ultrasound  scan  when  transducer  moves  following  predefined   trajectory 
• Deformable  tissue  modelling 
• Grid  superimposed  on  the  camera  image 
• Linear  transformation 
• Affine  transformation  (shear  +  scaling) 

Robot  control  and design  of  biopsy tool:

• Design and evaluation of different kinematic structures enabling maximum reachability 
• Integrated ultrasound probe positioned relative to needle holder 
• Actuated prototype using smart servo motors for needle positioning and end stop
• Interconnection between robotic head and robot flange 
• Data and power supply through centric connection 
• Manual lock mechanism for easy handling and fast tool changing 
• Ergonomic interface with safety switches for robotic hand guiding

Demonstrator  in  progress:

• Integration  of  sub-technologies 
• Image  acquisition  with  integrated  ultrasound  probe 
• Testing  of  different  scanning  trajectories 
• Measuring  of  resulting  breast  deformation 
• Description  of  kinematic  and  dynamic  parameters   for  performant  control  of  robotic  head

Source: MURAB