Physics Today recently featured a paper on a device developed to improve tracking surgical needles in real time, authored by a postdoctoral research associate with the GIFT-Surg project.
The paper, by Dr Wengfeng Xia and colleagues, describes an imaging device in which fibre optic ultrasound sensors are installed in the hollow needles used to carry out minimally invasive procedures such as amniotic fluid sampling. Ultrasonic tracking allows the location of the needle’s tip to be relayed to surgeons in real time, with the potential to help fetal and placental surgery to be carried out with more sensitivity and accuracy.
The Physics Today article, including a photo of the device, and the full paper can be accessed online:
Coded excitation ultrasonic needle tracking: An in vivo study (2016)
Authors: Wenfeng Xia, Yuval Ginsberg, Simeon J. West, Daniil I. Nikitichev, Sebastien Ourselin, Anna L. David, and Adrien E. Desjardins