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A CT-guided Control Framework of a Robotic Flexible Endoscope for the Diagnosis of the Maxillary Sinusitis

Puchen Zhu, Huayu Zhang, Xin Ma, Xiaoyin Zheng, Xuchen Wang, Kwok Wai Samuel Au

TL;DR

A CT-guided control framework for the diagnosis of maxillary sinusitis by using a robotic flexible endoscope is proposed and the results showed that the robotic flexible endoscope can accurately and autonomously follow the feasible path and reach the target position in the maxillary sinus cavity.

Abstract

Flexible endoscopes are commonly adopted in narrow and confined anatomical cavities due to their higher reachability and dexterity. However, prolonged and unintuitive manipulation of these endoscopes leads to an increased workload on surgeons and risks of collision. To address these challenges, this paper proposes a CT-guided control framework for the diagnosis of maxillary sinusitis by using a robotic flexible endoscope. In the CT-guided control framework, a feasible path to the target position in the maxillary sinus cavity for the robotic flexible endoscope is designed. Besides, an optimal control scheme is proposed to autonomously control the robotic flexible endoscope to follow the feasible path. This greatly improves the efficiency and reduces the workload for surgeons. Several experiments were conducted based on a widely utilized sinus phantom, and the results showed that the robotic flexible endoscope can accurately and autonomously follow the feasible path and reach the target position in the maxillary sinus cavity. The results also verified the feasibility of the CT-guided control framework, which contributes an effective approach to early diagnosis of sinusitis in the future.

A CT-guided Control Framework of a Robotic Flexible Endoscope for the Diagnosis of the Maxillary Sinusitis

TL;DR

A CT-guided control framework for the diagnosis of maxillary sinusitis by using a robotic flexible endoscope is proposed and the results showed that the robotic flexible endoscope can accurately and autonomously follow the feasible path and reach the target position in the maxillary sinus cavity.

Abstract

Flexible endoscopes are commonly adopted in narrow and confined anatomical cavities due to their higher reachability and dexterity. However, prolonged and unintuitive manipulation of these endoscopes leads to an increased workload on surgeons and risks of collision. To address these challenges, this paper proposes a CT-guided control framework for the diagnosis of maxillary sinusitis by using a robotic flexible endoscope. In the CT-guided control framework, a feasible path to the target position in the maxillary sinus cavity for the robotic flexible endoscope is designed. Besides, an optimal control scheme is proposed to autonomously control the robotic flexible endoscope to follow the feasible path. This greatly improves the efficiency and reduces the workload for surgeons. Several experiments were conducted based on a widely utilized sinus phantom, and the results showed that the robotic flexible endoscope can accurately and autonomously follow the feasible path and reach the target position in the maxillary sinus cavity. The results also verified the feasibility of the CT-guided control framework, which contributes an effective approach to early diagnosis of sinusitis in the future.

Paper Structure

This paper contains 15 sections, 7 equations, 10 figures, 2 tables.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Overall Control Framework
  3. Overview of the Control Framework
  4. Kinematics Modeling of the System
  5. Path Planning for the Flexible Endoscope
  6. Systems Registration
  7. Real-Time Image Process
  8. Step 1: Segmenting the Endoscope with LISA
  9. Step 2: Finding the Centerline of the Segmented Endoscope
  10. Step 3: Identifying the Endpoint of the Centerline Curve
  11. Optimal Control Scheme
  12. Experiments and Results
  13. Experimental Setup
  14. Kinematics Verification
  15. Phantom Test

Figures (10)

  • Figure 1: Overview of the CT-guided robotic flexible endoscope for the diagnosis of the maxillary sinusitis
  • Figure 2: Overview of the CT-guided control framework of the robotic flexible endoscope for diagnosis of maxillary sinusitis, including five modules: 1) kinematics modeling module, 2) path planning module, 3) systems registration module, 4) image process module, and 5) control system module.
  • Figure 3: CT image of the sinus and visualization of the 3D sinus. (a) The cross-sectional image of the sinus. (b) 3D sinus model from CT data. (c) Perspective view of the 3D sinus model.
  • Figure 4: The target position in the maxillary sinus cavity and feasible path obtained by RRT algorithm
  • Figure 5: Systems registration among the C-arm X-ray machine coordinate system, phantom coordinate system, and robotic flexible endoscope coordinate system.
  • ...and 5 more figures