title: Simulations and experimental demonstration of coupling molecular and macroscopic level modalities with a robotic manipulator.
abstract: Established and emerging molecular and cellular modalities, such as optical imaging and spectroscopy, offer new opportunities for assessing tissue pathophysiology in situ. A challenge with such applications is their limited tissue penetration and low sensitivity that can be addressed with trans-needle or trans-catheter access. In this work, we describe the use of an actuated manipulator to physically manipulate such sensors to scan an area of interest generating 1-D scans while registering them to a guiding modality. Simulations were performed for a miniature RF coil to determine the voxel size, and experimental studies were conducted using a miniature RF coil manipulated by the MR-compatible device. The experimental results on phantom studies show that potential diagnostic information can be collected by using this methodology. This system was pursued to address a critical limitation of emerging molecular and near-cellular modalities; the limited tissue penetration.
authors.affiliation: Medical Robotics Laboratory, Department of Computer Science, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204, USA. asonmez@uh.edu
authors.forename: Ahmet E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Sonmez
authors.forename: Yousef
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hedayati
authors.forename: Alpay
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Özcan
authors.forename: William M
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Spees
authors.forename: Nikolaos V
authors.initials: NV
authors.lastname: Tsekos
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D017076:Computer-Aided Design; D005780:Gelatin; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008904:Miniaturization; D019047:Phantoms, Imaging; D010938:Plant Oils; D011846:Radio Waves; D012371:Robotics / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D010938:Plant Oils; D005780:Gelatin