A Needle Guidance System Employing Ultrasound Region Tracking For Precision Biopsy Procedures

An ultrasound-guided biopsy is a cost-effective and minimally invasive approach to taking biopsies from a subcutaneous lesion. These are primarily done by hand, leaving room for human error. Introducing a needle guidance system to aid the operator could enhance the accuracy and speed of the procedure, reducing time and costs. This paper introduces such an application, capable of tracking a lesion and manipulating the angle of the needle to assist during the biopsy. Experiments on a phantom and in vivo videos show that the tracking algorithm can track the target with deviations below 2 mm. The needle guide can accurately reach the lesion with a deviation of 0.6 ± 0.4 mm on ex vivo tests, compared to 1.1 mm to 2.9 mm in state-of-the-art research on in vivo tests. In conclusion, the proposed system can accurately target a lesion for biopsies while still being simple, portable, and cost-effective.