Quantifying force and positional frequency bands in neurosurgical tasks

• Published in: Journal of robotic surgery 2016-06, Vol.10 (2), p.97-102
• Main Authors: Maddahi, Yaser, Ghasemloonia, Ahmad, Zareinia, Kourosh, Sepehri, Nariman, Sutherland, Garnette R.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Biomechanical Phenomena; Brain; Cadaver; Cartesian coordinates; Controllers; Design of experiments; Equipment Design; Fourier transforms; Frequencies; Hand; Haptics; Humans; Image acquisition; Interfaces; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Medical instruments; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Minimally Invasive Surgery; Movement; Neurosurgery; Neurosurgical Procedures - instrumentation; Original Article; Retrofitting; Robotic Surgical Procedures - instrumentation; Strain gauges; Surgeons; Surgery; Surgical apparatus & instruments; Surgical Instruments; Tracking systems; Transmitters; Urology; Virtual reality; Workplace
• ISSN: 1863-2483; 1863-2491
• DOI: 10.1007/s11701-016-0561-4

To establish the design requirements for an MR-compatible haptic hand-controller, this paper measures magnitudes and frequency bands of three mechanical motion and interaction components during the performance of neurosurgical tasks on a cadaveric brain. The hand-controller would allow the performance of virtual neurosurgical tasks within the bore of a high field magnet during image acquisition, i.e., functional MRI. The components are the position and the orientation of a surgical tool, and the force interaction between the tool and the brain tissue. A bipolar forceps was retrofitted with a tracking system and a set of force sensing components to measure displacements and forces, respectively. Results showed working positional, rotational, and force frequency bands of 3, 3 and 5 Hz, respectively. Peak forces of 1.4, 2.9 and 3.0 N were measured in the Cartesian coordinate system. A workspace of 50.1 × 39.8 × 58.2 mm 3 and orientation ranges of 40.4°, 60.1° and 63.1° for azimuth, elevation, and roll angles were observed. The results contribute in providing information specific to neurosurgery that can be used to effectively design a compact and customized haptic hand-controller reflecting characteristics of neurosurgical tasks.