Analysis of a vibrating interventional device to improve 3-D colormark tracking

Modelling and characterisation of a ultrasound-actuated needle for improved visibility in ultrasound-guided regional anaesthesia and tissue biopsy

Clear needle visualisation is recognised as an unmet need for ultrasound guided percutaneous needle procedures including regional anaesthesia and tissue biopsy. With inadequate needle visibility, these procedures may result in serious complications or a failed operation. This paper reports analysis of the modal behaviour of a previously proposed ultrasound-actuated needle configuration, which may overcome this problem by improving needle visibility in colour Doppler imaging. It uses a piezoelectric transducer to actuate longitudinal resonant modes in needles (outer diameter 0.8-1.2mm, length>65mm). The factors that affect the needle's vibration mode are identified, including the needle length, the transducer's resonance frequency and the gripping position. Their effects are investigated using finite element modelling, with the conclusions validated experimentally. The actuated needle was inserted into porcine tissue up to 30mm depth and its visibility was observed under colour Doppler imaging. The piezoelectric transducer is able to generate longitudinal vibration with peak-to-peak amplitude up to 4μm at the needle tip with an actuating voltage of 20Vpp. Actuated in longitudinal vibration modes (distal mode at 27.6kHz and transducer mode at 42.2kHz) with a drive amplitude of 12-14Vpp, a 120mm needle is delineated as a coloured line in colour Doppler images, with both needle tip and shaft visualised. The improved needle visibility is maintained while the needle is advanced into the tissue, thus allowing tracking of the needle position in real time. Moreover, the needle tip is highlighted by strong coloured artefacts around the actuated needle generated by its flexural vibration. A limitation of the technique is that the transducer mode requires needles of specific lengths so that the needle's resonance frequency matches the transducer. This may restrict the choice of needle lengths in clinical applications.

Color Doppler imaging of cardiac catheters using vibrating motors

A miniature motor rotating at 11,000 rpm was attached onto the proximal end of cardiac electrophysiological (EP) catheters in order to produce vibrations at the tip that were then visualized by color Doppler on ultrasound scanners. The catheter tip was imaged within a vascular graft submerged in a water tank using the Volumetrics Medical Imaging 3D scanner, the Siemens Sonoline Antares 2D scanner and the Philips ie33 3D ultrasound scanner with TEE probe. The vibrating catheter tip was visualized in each case, although results varied with the color Doppler properties of the individual scanner.

Vibrating interventional device detection using real-time 3-D color Doppler

Ultrasound image guidance of interventional devices during minimally invasive surgery provides the clinician with improved soft tissue contrast while reducing ionizing radiation exposure. One problem with ultrasound image guidance is poor visualization of the device tip during the clinical procedure. We have described previously guidance of several interventional devices using a real-time 3-D (RT3-D) ultrasound system with 3-D color Doppler combined with the ColorMark technology. We then developed an analytical model for a vibrating needle to maximize the tip vibrations and improve the reliability and sensitivity of our technique. In this paper, we use the analytical model and improved radiofrequency (RF) and color Doppler filters to detect two different vibrating devices in water tank experiments as well as in an in vivo canine experiment. We performed water tank experiments with four different 3- D transducers: a 5 MHz transesophageal (TEE) probe, a 5 MHz transthoracic (TTE) probe, a 5 MHz intracardiac catheter (ICE) transducer, and a 2.5 MHz commercial TTE probe. Each transducer was used to scan an aortic graft suspended in the water tank. An atrial septal puncture needle and an endomyocardial biopsy forceps, each vibrating at 1.3 kHz, were inserted into the vascular graft and were tracked using 3-D color Doppler. Improved RF and wall filters increased the detected color Doppler sensitivity by 14 dB. In three simultaneous planes from the in vivo 3-D scan, we identified both the septal puncture needle and the biopsy forceps within the right atrium using the 2.5 MHz probe. A new display filter was used to suppress the unwanted flash artifact associated with physiological motion.