Assessment of experimental OpenCV tracking algorithms for ultrasound videos.

This study aims to compare the tracking algorithms provided by the OpenCV library to use on ultrasound video. Despite the widespread application of this computer vision library, few works describe the attempts to use it to track the movement of liver tumors on ultrasound video. Movements of the neoplasms caused by the patient`s breath interfere with the positioning of the instruments during the process of biopsy and radio-frequency ablation. The main hypothesis of the experiment was that tracking neoplasms and correcting the position of the manipulator in case of using robotic-assisted surgery will allow positioning the instruments more precisely. Another goal of the experiment was to check if it is possible to ensure real-time tracking with at least 25 processed frames per second for standard definition video. OpenCV version 4.5.0 was used with 7 tracking algorithms from the extra modules package. They are: Boosting, CSRT, KCF, MedianFlow, MIL, MOSSE, TLD. More than 5600 frames of standard definition were processed during the experiment. Analysis of the results shows that two algorithms-CSRT and KCF-could solve the problem of tumor tracking. They lead the test with 70% and more of Intersection over Union and more than 85% successful searches. They could also be used in real-time processing with an average processing speed of up to frames per second in CSRT and 100 + frames per second for KCF. Tracking results reach the average deviation between centers of neoplasms to 2 mm and maximum deviation less than 5 mm. This experiment also shows that no frames made CSRT and KCF algorithms fail simultaneously. So, the hypothesis for future work is combining these algorithms to work together, with one of them-CSRT-as support for the KCF tracker on the rarely failed frames.

The comparison of the process of manual and robotic positioning of the electrode performing radiofrequency ablation under the control of a surgical navigation system.

This study is aimed at the comparison of the process of manual and robotic positioning of the electrode performing radiofrequency ablation under the control of a surgical navigation system. The main hypothesis of this experiment was that the use of a collaborative manipulator (KUKA iiwa) will allow to position the active part of the electrode relative to the center of the tumor more accurately and from the first attempt. We also monitor the stability of the electrode's velocity during insertion and consider some advantages in ergonomics using the robotic manipulator. We use three more criteria to compare the surgeon's and robotic performance, unlike other studies, where only the target point's accuracy criterion is observed. The main idea is to examine the movement parameters of the electrode that can lead to potential patient trauma. Sphere-shaped tumor phantoms measuring 8 mm in diameter were filled with contrast and inserted in bovine livers. 10 livers were used for the robotic experiment and an equal quantity for manual surgery. The livers were encased in silicone phantoms designed to imitate the liver position in a real patient's abdominal cavity. Analysis of CT data gave the opportunity to find the entry and the target point for each tumor phantom. This data was loaded into a surgical navigation system that was used to track and record the position of the RF-electrode during the operation for further analysis. The standard deviation of points from the programmed linear trajectory totaled in the average 0.3 mm for the robotic experiment and 2.33 mm for the manual operation with a maximum deviation of 0.55 mm and 7.99 mm respectively. Standard deviation from the target point was 2.69 mm for the collaborative method and 2.49 mm for the manual method. The average velocity was 2.97 mm/s for the manipulator and 3.12 mm/s for the manual method, but the standard deviation of the velocity relative to the value of the average velocity was 0.66 mm/s and 3.05 mm/s respectively. Thus, in two criteria out of three, the manipulator is superior to the surgeon, and equality is established in one. Surgeons also noticed advantages in ergonomics performing the procedure using the manipulator. This experiment was produced as part of the work on the developing of a robotic multifunctional surgical complex. We can confirm the potential advantages of using collaborative robotic manipulators for minimally invasive surgery in case of practice for cancer treatment.