Motivation: Accurate needle placement is a foundation for MRI-guided intervention and has been a topic of research in medical robotics. However, the lack of a common research hardware platform presents a challenge for basic research and clinical translation. Goal(s): To develop a new open-source 3D-printable MRI-conditional needle placement robot that facilitates rapid prototyping, testing, and resource sharing. Approach: The proposed robot was fabricated using a 3D printer and evaluated in a swine model to test its feasibility in inserting a biopsy needle in vivo. Results: The robot was successfully used in a mock biopsy procedure in the swine model under 3T MRI guidance. Impact: This 3D-printed robot allows for open-source hardware development for rapid prototyping, testing, and resource sharing of an MRI-guided needle placement robot. It provides a solution for open science promoted by a growing number of organizations and government agencies worldwide.
Tokuda et al. (Tue,) studied this question.