Cooperative Robotic Gamma Imaging: Enhancing US-guided Needle Biopsy

Sentinel lymph node (sLN) biopsy mostly requires an invasive surgical intervention to remove sLNs under radioguidance. We present an alternative method where live ultrasound is combined with live robotic gamma imaging to provide real-time anatomical and nuclear guidance of punch biopsies. The robotic arm holding a gamma camera is equipped with a system for inside-out tracking to directly retrieve the relative position of the US transducer with respect to itself. Based on this, the system cooperatively positions the gamma camera parallel to the US imaging plane selected by the physician for real-time multi-modal visualization. We validate the feasibility of this approach with a dedicated gelatine/agar biopsy phantom and show that lymph nodes separated by at least 10 mm can be distinguished.     «

Sentinel lymph node (sLN) biopsy mostly requires an invasive surgical intervention to remove sLNs under radioguidance. We present an alternative method where live ultrasound is combined with live robotic gamma imaging to provide real-time anatomical and nuclear guidance of punch biopsies. The robotic arm holding a gamma camera is equipped with a system for inside-out tracking to directly retrieve the relative position of the US transducer with respect to itself. Based on this, the system cooper...     »