Computer-assisted access to the kidney

TL;DR

This paper presents a computer-assisted system for kidney access that integrates preoperative 3D CT planning with intraoperative ultrasound guidance to improve puncture accuracy in kidney procedures.

Contribution

It introduces a novel system combining CT and ultrasound data for precise, real-time kidney access, demonstrating promising initial accuracy in phantom experiments.

Findings

Millimetric registration accuracy achieved on real data

Guidance experiments showed 4.7 mm target accuracy

Needle deflection was the main source of error

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this paper is to introduce the principles of computer-assisted access to the kidney. The system provides the surgeon with a pre-operative 3D planning on computed tomography (CT) images. After a rigid registration with space-localized ultrasound (US) data, preoperative planning can be transferred to the intra-operative conditions and an intuitive man-machine interface allows the user to perform a puncture. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Both CT and US images of informed normal volunteer were obtained to perform calculation on the accuracy of registration and punctures were carried out on a kidney phantom to measure the precision of the whole of the system. RESULTS: We carried out millimetric registrations on real data and guidance experiments on a kidney phantom showed encouraging results of 4.7 mm between planned and reached targets. We noticed that the most significant error was related to the needle deflection during the puncture. CONCLUSION: Preliminary results are encouraging. Further work will be undertaken to improve efficiency and accuracy, and to take breathing into account.