A robotic approach to HIFU based neurosurgery

The use of robotics in surgical interventions not only has the potential for minimally invasive surgical procedures but can improve performance and result in reduced operative time and post-operative trauma/recovery. This paper describes the concept of a robotic based High Intensity Focused Ultrasound system as a neuro-surgical tool for the destruction of subcortical lesions. A novel multi-transducer applicator system is proposed in order to minimise the effects of off-focal hot-spots and cavitation. Analytical models have been developed for simulating the acoustic field of the multi-transducer system. The models predict the interactive field effects from specific spatial configurations of the probes with respect to each other and to the target. Finally, the design aspects for a robotics based dedicated manipulator for HIFU-based brain surgery have been explored, together with those predicted from a laboratory system.