Current technology in navigation and robotics for liver tumours ablation

Abstract

Radio frequecy ablation is the most widely used local ablative therapy for both primary and metastatic liver tumours. However, it has limited application in the treatment of large tumours(tumours >3cm) and multi centric tumours. In recent years, many strategies have been developedto extend the application of radiofrequency ablation to large tumours. A promising approach is to take advantage of the rapid advancement in imaging and robotic technologies to construct anintegrated surgical navigation and medical robotic system. This paper presents a review of existingsurgical navigation methods and medical robots. We also introduce our current developed model -Transcutaneous Robot-assisted Ablation-device Insertion Navigation System (TRAINS). The clinicalviability of this prototyped integrated navigation and robotic system for large and multicentric tumorsis demonstrated using animal experiments.