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Surgical Navigation and Robotics Laboratory

MR Guided Liver Ablation

Objective

The objective of this study is to develop MR-guided RF or microwave liver ablation therapy.

Methods

We are developing a software to guide a MR-guided liver therapy. Image fusion of pre-operative diagnostic MR image and intraoperative semi-realtime MR image (upto 0.5 fps) integrated with needle tracking by optical sensors enables surgeons to perform intaractive needle handling to position the needle towards the target tumor in the liver with minimum invasion. Tumor tissue is ablated by microwave at the tip of the needle monitored by MR temperature image. The ablated area, which is normally unrecognizable from intraoperative MR images, is recorded on the 3D virtual space on the navigation software, and used for planning of the following ablations during operation as well as validation. The software has been used in approx. 100 clinical cases at our collaborator's site, Shiga University of Medical Science, Japan.

Publications

  1. Morikawa S, Inubushi T, Kurumi Y, Naka S, Sato K, Tani T, Haque HA, Tokuda J, Hata N. New assistive devices for MR-guided microwave thermocoagulation of liver tumors. Acad Radiol 2003; 10(2):180-8
  2. Morikawa S, Inubushi T, Kurumi Y, Naka S, Sato K, Demura K, Tani T, Haque HA, Tokuda J, Hata N. Advanced computer assistance for magnetic resonance-guided microwave thermocoagulation of liver tumors. Acad Radiol 2003; 10(12):1442-9

People

Collaborators

Internal

External

  • Shigehiro Morikawa, MD, Biomedical MR Science Center, Shiga University of Medical Science, Japan.
  • Toru Tani, MD, Department of Surgery, Shiga University of Medical Science, Japan.