Needle and Tine Deployment with Virtual Treatment Boundaries
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current medical treatments for uterine fibroids face challenges in precisely deploying needles, predicting treatment volume, and ensuring safety margins to avoid damage to nearby sensitive tissues, particularly for less experienced physicians.
Innovation Solution
The system provides real-time imaging and projection of treatment and safety boundaries, allowing for virtual deployment of needle structures, which are then physically deployed with mechanical stops and servo motors to ensure precise positioning and minimize unintended tissue damage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If real-time imaging and boundary projection systems are implemented, then needle placement accuracy is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system creates a virtual copy of the treatment scene by projecting treatment and safety boundaries onto the real-time ultrasound image. This virtual representation allows physicians to plan and simulate needle trajectories before actual deployment, improving accuracy without requiring complex physical guidance mechanisms during the procedure.
Solution Approach 2:
The boundary projection system acts as an intermediary between the ultrasound imaging system and the needle deployment mechanism. It provides visual guidance information that mediates the physician's decision-making process, bridging the gap between imaging data and treatment execution while maintaining relative simplicity in both components.
2Manufacturing precision
If mechanical stops and servo motors are used for controlled needle deployment, then manufacturing precision is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system replaces complex mechanical guidance mechanisms with a visual feedback approach using boundary projections. Instead of requiring intricate mechanical stops and servo motors for precise needle positioning, the system uses software-based boundary visualization that guides the physician's manual needle deployment, significantly reducing mechanical complexity while maintaining precision.
Solution Approach 2:
The boundary projection system provides self-guidance by automatically calculating and displaying treatment and safety boundaries based on the ultrasound image and selected parameters. The system serves itself by using its own imaging capability to generate guidance information, eliminating the need for separate complex positioning mechanisms.
3Reliability
If boundary projection feedback is provided during needle deployment, then treatment safety is improved, but loss of time occurs due to additional visualization processing
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary action by projecting treatment and safety boundaries onto the ultrasound image before the needle is deployed. This advance visualization allows the physician to assess the planned trajectory and expected treatment volume in advance, ensuring safety without requiring time-consuming calculations or adjustments during the actual needle insertion process.
Solution Approach 2:
The boundary projection is continuously updated and displayed in real-time throughout the needle deployment process. This continuous visual feedback maintains the safety information available to the physician without interrupting the procedure, allowing seamless integration of safety monitoring into the treatment workflow without significant time loss.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enhances the accuracy of needle placement, reduces the number of deployment attempts, and ensures safe treatment by providing visual feedback and mechanical limits, thereby improving treatment efficacy and safety.
Implementation Method 1
the device includes an ultrasonic imaging array with an adjustable field of view
Data Source
AI summary
A system for deploying needles in tissue includes a controller and a visual display. A treatment probe has both a needle and tines deployable from the needle which may be advanced into the tissue. The treatment probe also has adjustable stops which control the deployed positions of both the needle and the tines. The adjustable stops are coupled to the controller so that the virtual treatment and safety boundaries resulting from the treatment can be presented on the visual display prior to actual deployment of the system.