OBJECTIVES: The aim of this paper is to introduce the principles of computer-assisted access to the kidney. The system provides the surgeon with a pre-operative 3D planning on computed tomography (CT) images. After a rigid registration with space-localized ultrasound (US) data, preoperative planning can be transferred to the intra-operative conditions and an intuitive man-machine interface allows the user to perform a puncture. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Both CT and US images of informed normal volunteer were obtained to perform calculation on the accuracy of registration and punctures were carried out on a kidney phantom to measure the precision of the whole of the system. RESULTS: We carried out millimetric registrations on real data and guidance experiments on a kidney phantom showed encouraging results of 4.7 mm between planned and reached targets. We noticed that the most significant error was related to the needle deflection during the puncture. CONCLUSION: Preliminary results are encouraging. Further work will be undertaken to improve efficiency and accuracy, and to take breathing into account.
@article{arxiv.0706.3333,
title = {Computer-assisted access to the kidney},
author = {P. Mozer and A. Leroy and Yohan Payan and J. Troccaz and E. Chartier-Kastler and F. Richard},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0706.3333},
year = {2007}
}