title: A medical needle drive for the study of interstitial implant mechanics.
abstract: We describe the construction and test performance of a computer-controlled medical needle drive. The drive represents one facet of a larger project whose aim is to investigate experimentally the mechanics of needle introduction in radioactive 'seed' prostate implants, with a view to identifying ways of making incremental improvements in needle placement accuracy. It is capable of mimicking a range of motions imparted to a needle by a clinical practitioner, and of monitoring the compressive force at the needle tip in real time via an in-line load cell. Tests involving driving needles into porcine gelatin samples using a variety of velocity profiles confirm intended operation. The drive will permit us to introduce needles in a controlled and reproducible manner into a realistic prostate phantom currently being designed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Physics, Cross Cancer Institute, 11560 University Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G1Z2.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lefrançois
authors.forename: R S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Sloboda
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001918:Brachytherapy / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D019245:Compressive Strength; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D007267:Injections / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008846:Micromanipulation / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D009038:Motion; D009339:Needles; D010812:Physical Stimulation / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D011471:Prostatic Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy; D012399:Rotation; D012879:Skin Physiological Phenomena; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D013552:Swine; D014159:Transducers; D014584:User-Computer Interface