Joonho Seo

Robust kidney stone tracking for a non-invasive ultrasound theragnostic system-Servoing performance and safety enhancement-

We propose a non-invasive ultrasound theragnostic system that tracks movement in an affected area (kidney stones, in the present study) by irradiating the area with high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU). In the present paper, the concept behind a novel medical support system that integrates therapy and diagnostics (theragnostics) is illustrated. The required functions for the proposed system are discussed and an overview of the constructed system configuration is illustrated. The problems associated with kidney stone motion tracking by ultrasonography are described. In order to overcome these problems, we consider two approaches. The first approach is to minimize the servoing error so as to enhance both the efficiency of the therapy and the safety of the patient. The second approach is to reduce the effect of the servoing error. With respect to the first approach, we propose a robust detection method of the stone position based on shape information. With respect to the second approach, we propose a solution for controlling the HIFU irradiation power in accordance with the servoing error, primarily in order to enhance the safety of the patient.

A control framework for the non-invasive ultrasound theragnostic system

The non-invasive ultrasound theragnostic system, we propose, tracks and follows movement in an affected area —kidney stones here—, while High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) is irradiated onto the area. In this paper, the concept of the novel medical support system, which integrates the therapy and diagnostics, is illustrated at first. Secondly, structuring the required functions for the proposed system is discussed. Third, the overview of the constructed system configuration is illustrated. Fourth, the problem of the stone motion tracking by ultrasonography is clarified. To cope with this problem, the respiratory motion of a human kidney is analyzed and a controller, by utilizing the quasi-periodical motion of the respiratory kidney motion, is proposed. Finally, the result of the servoing and HIFU irradiation experiments of the model stone, which moves based on the real human kidney motion data, is reported to confirm the effectiveness of the proposed controller and the constructed system.

Visual servoing for a US-guided therapeutic HIFU system by coagulated lesion tracking: a phantom study.

Applying ultrasound (US)‐guided high‐intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) therapy for kidney tumours is currently very difficult, due to the unclearly observed tumour area and renal motion induced by human respiration. In this research, we propose new methods by which to track the indistinct tumour area and to compensate the respiratory tumour motion for US‐guided HIFU treatment.

A novel robust template matching method to track and follow body targets for NIUTS

The authors have developed a bed-type non-invasive ultrasound theragnostic system (NIUTS) that compensates for movement by tracking and following the area to be treated by stereo ultrasound imaging while irradiating high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) onto the affected area. In this paper, we propose a novel robust template matching method to track and follow body targets, which include tumors and stones for the NIUTS. The proposed novel robust template matching method could be applied to a motion tracking of the real human kidney based on the ultrasound images, which is the first successful report as far as I know. This robust visual servoing method could be a great tool to treat the tumors and stones precisely and safely.

TECHNOLOGIZING AND DIGITALIZING OF MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL SKILLS FOR A NON-INVASIVE ULTRASOUND THERAGNOSTIC SYSTEM

Information and robot technology (IRT) is drawing increasing attention in the technologizing and digitalizing of medical professional skills. In fields such as manufacturing, high-precision tasks, not possible with human, skills have been already realized by industrial robots. The medical field thus expected to advance with progress in the development of medical robots able to provide diagnosis and therapy that are much more precise than those of conventional medical professionals.Copyright

Three-dimensional computer-controlled acoustic pressure scanning and quantification of focused ultrasound

We propose an automated needle hydrophonebased scanning system to measure high-resolution 3-D acoustic pressure distributions generated by high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU). The hardware consists of a host computer, subsystems for HIFU generation, and an oscilloscope to sample the pressure response from a sensor in a water tank. Software was developed to control the hardware subsystems, to search for the initial scan position, and to design the scanning path and volume. A preoperative scanning plan with three perpendicular planes is used to manipulate the position of the HIFU transducer and to automate the acquisition of the spatial acoustic pressure distribution. The post-processing process displays the scanning results, compensates time delays caused by continuous linear scans, and quantifies the focal region. A method to minimize the displacement error induced by the time delay improves the scanning speed of a conventional needle hydrophone-based scanning system. Moreover, a noiserobust, automatic-focus searching algorithm using Gaussian function fitting reduces the total number of iterations and prevents the initial scanning position search from diverging. Finally, the minimum-volume enclosing ellipsoid approximation is used to quantify the size and orientation of the 3-D focal region thresholded by the minimum pressure of interest for various input conditions and to test the reproducibility of the scanning system.

Ultrasound image based visual servoing for moving target ablation by high intensity focused ultrasound: US image based visual servoing for moving target ablation by HIFU

Although high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) is a promising technology for tumor treatment, a moving abdominal target is still a challenge in current HIFU systems. In particular, respiratory‐induced organ motion can reduce the treatment efficiency and negatively influence the treatment result. In this research, we present: (1) a methodology for integration of ultrasound (US) image based visual servoing in a HIFU system; and (2) the experimental results obtained using the developed system.

A novel redundant motion control mechanism in accordance with medical diagnostic and therapeutic task functions for a NIUTS

The authors have developed a non-invasive ultrasound theragnostic system (NIUTS) with a focal lesion servo (FLS) function based on stereo ultrasound imaging in order to compensate for movement while irradiating high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) onto a focal lesion. In the present paper, we propose a redundant motion control mechanism of the HIFU focus, for therapeutics, that is independent of the ultrasound probes for diagnostics. Using the proposed redundant motion control mechanism, an arbitrary designated position in the focal lesion can be treated without altering the viewpoint of the ultrasound probes. The proposed mechanism enables (i) noise factors, which deteriorate the image quality (IQ) for FLS, to be reduced, thereby enhancing the FLS performance, and (ii) enables the destruction of a focal lesion (kidney stone) with a preoperatively designated locus that is moving due to respiration/heartbeat.

Technologizing and DigitalizingMedical Professional Skills for a Non-Invasive Ultrasound Theragnostic System – Technologizing and Digitalizing Kidney Stone Extraction Skills –

We have been studying the technologizing and digitalizing skills of the medical professionals in the medical diagnostics and therapeutics. The concept of technologizing and digitalizing medical skills involves extracting functions in medical professional skills and reconstructing and implementing these extracted functions in the mechanisms, controllers, and image-processing algorithms of the medical support system. In this paper, we focus on the kidney stone extraction skills of medical professionals by utilizing robot vision technology, and discuss a methodology for technologizing and digitalizing medical diagnostic and therapeutic skills for a non-invasive ultrasound theragnostic system.

Development of Cholecystectomy Simulation for Laparoscopic Surgery Training

Received 7 February 2012; received in revised form 30 July 2012; accepted 31 July 2012ABSTRACT Laparoscopic surgery is a surgical procedure which uses long laparoscopic instruments throughtiny holes in abdomen while watching images from a laparoscopic camera through umbilicus.Laparoscopic surgeries have many advantages rather than open surgeries, however it is hard tolearn the surgical skills for laparoscopic surgery. Recently, some virtual simulation systems forlaparoscopic surgery are developed to train novice surgeons or resident surgeons. In this study,we introduce the techniques that we developed for laparoscopic surgical training simulator forcholecystectomy (gallbladder removal), which is one of the most frequently performed by lap-aroscopic surgery. The techniques for cholecystectomy simulation include modeling of humanorgans (liver, gallbladder, bile ducts, etc.), real-time deformable body calculation, realistic 3Dvisualization of surgical scene, high-fidelity haptic rendering and haptic device technology, andso on. We propose each simulation technique for the laparoscopic cholecystectomy proceduressuch as indentifying cystic duct and cystic artery to clamp and cut, dissecting connective tis-sues between the gallbladder and liver. In this paper, we describe the techniques and discussabout the results of the proposed cholecystectomy simulation for laparoscopic surgical training.Key words:Cholecystectomy, Deformable body modeling, Gallbladder removal, Laparoscopicsurgery, Training simulation