Design of an MRI-Compatible Modularized Needle Driver for In-Bore MRI-Guided Prostate Interventions

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provides high-quality three dimensional visualization of prostate tissue, therefore MRI-guided prostate biopsy has been introduced to enhance cancer detection and treatment. However, closed-bore MRI has not been widely adopted for prostate interventions due to physical limitation of in-bore access and workspace. In this paper, we propose an MRI-compatible robotic manipulator which is able to perform both prostate biopsy and brachytherapy intervention in a closed-bore MRI scanner. The proposed manipulator mainly consists of a base robot and a needle driver. The needle driver can operate a conventional biopsy gun. The needle driver is draped separately from the base robot for sterilization, thus it can be detached from the base robot for needle replacing through a quick-release mechanism. Mechanical design and kinematic analysis of the robotic manipulator are delineated according to the constraints of the MRI environment and the clinical workflow.