Preclinical Evaluation of a Novel Steerable Robotic Neuroendoscope Tool.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: To improve the outcomes of minimally invasive, endoscopic, intracranial procedures, steerable robotic tools have been developed but still require thorough evaluation before use in a clinical setting. This paper compares a novel steerable robotic neuroendoscope tool against a standard rigid tool. METHODS: Seventeen participants, 8 nonmedical and 9 medical (neurosurgery residents and fellows), were recruited. The evaluation trial consisted of a task that was completed using either a rigid tool or the steerable tool, followed by the completion of a qualitative survey. Target reach time and tool movement volume (TMV) were recorded for each trial and analyzed. The tools were evaluated within a realistic phantom model of the brain. RESULTS: Preclinical evaluation of both tools showed that average target reach time for the steerable tool among medical personnel (15.0 seconds) was longer than that of the rigid tool (5.9 seconds). However, the average TMV for the steerable tool (0.178 cm 3 ) was much lower than that of the rigid tool (0.501 cm 3 ) for medical personnel, decreasing the TMV by 64.47%. CONCLUSION: The steerable tool required more training and practice in comparison with the standard rigid tool, but it decreased the overall endoscope movement volume, which is a source of parenchymal injury associated with endoscopic procedures.

Brain-Mimicking Phantom for Photoablation and Visualization.

While the use of tissue-mimicking (TM) phantoms has been ubiquitous in surgical robotics, the translation of technology from laboratory experiments to equivalent intraoperative tissue conditions has been a challenge. The increasing use of lasers for surgical tumor resection has introduced the need to develop a modular, low-cost, functionally relevant TM phantom to model the complex laser-tissue interaction. In this paper, a TM phantom with mechanically and thermally similar properties as human brain tissue suited for photoablation studies and subsequent visualization is developed. The proposed study demonstrates the tuned phantom response to laser ablation for fixed laser power, time, and angle. Additionally, the ablated crater profile is visualized using optical coherence tomography (OCT), enabling high-resolution surface profile generation.