Bronchoscopy with transbronchial biopsy is a minimally invasive and effective method for early lung cancer intervention. Robot-assisted bronchoscopy offers improved precision, spatial flexibility, and reduced risk of cross-infection. This paper introduces a novel teleoperated robotic bronchoscopy system and a three-stage procedure designed for robot-assisted bronchoscopy. The robotic mechanism enables a clinical practice similar to traditional bronchoscopy, augmented by the control of a novel variable stiffness catheter for tissue sampling. A rapid prototype of the robotic system has been fully developed and validated through in-vivo experiments. The results demonstrate the potential of the proposed robotic bronchoscopy system and variable stiffness catheter in enhancing accuracy and safety during bronchoscopy procedures.
@article{arxiv.2306.09598,
title = {Design of a Teleoperated Robotic Bronchoscopy System for Peripheral Pulmonary Lesion Biopsy},
author = {Xing-Yu Chen and Xiaohui Xiong and Xuemiao Wang and Peng Li and Shimei Wang and Toluwanimi Akinyemi and Wenke Duan and Wenjing Du and Olatunji Omisore and Lei Wang},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2306.09598},
year = {2024}
}