New ultrasound research may allow surgeons to take a step away from the bedside-and perhaps one day, leave the operating room entirely.
Researchers at the Pratt School of Engineering demonstrated that three-dimensional ultrasound scanners can guide robotic surgical tools, which could allow surgical robots to operate independently.
"It's the first time anyone has used the tool of 3-D ultrasound scanning to guide a robot," said Stephen Smith, professor of biomedical engineering and associate professor of radiology at Duke University Medical Center.
High-speed ultrasound images developed by the team are already used to explore complex organs by obstetricians and cardiologists, as well as radiologists.
"This is most valuable in its ability to allow surgeons to see body parts in full," Smith said, adding that the approach could one day allow robots to "perform certain procedures completely autonomously."
The discovery is featured on the cover of the November 2006 issue of the journal IEEE Transactions on Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and Frequency Control.
In their demonstration, Pratt researchers used the ultrasound scanners to guide robots in simulated surgical procedures.
Their research was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.
The robots were able to precisely locate surgical targets in the simulated procedures, the team reported.
Current minimally invasive procedures-which often involve "keyhole" incisions-employ two-dimensional tools or optical endoscopes to view complex organs, Smith explained.
The 3-D high-speed ultrasound probes, which were first employed by the Pratt team earlier this year, could immediately replace 2-D methods and assist surgeons in the way they are able to view organs.
"All [cardiologists] think of the heart in three dimensions but haven't been able to image it in three dimensions," said James Jollis, associate professor of cardiology at DUMC.
"An aging population is stepping up the call for non-invasive procedures-creating a need for more complex imaging," Jollis said.
But the use of robots in autonomous procedures will likely remain on the drawing board, as assisted surgical procedures are still in their early stages, robotic experts noted.
"This was found to be quite interesting but it is still a very advanced research topic," said Chris Hasser, director of applied research for Intuitive Surgical, Inc.
Hasser's company developed the da Vinci surgical system-the only operative platform for assisted robotic surgery in the world.
"But completely autonomous surgical robots will likely remain the stuff of Hollywood for the foreseeable future," Hasser added.
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