Sharif Digital Repository

In this paper, two different hybrid intelligent systems are applied to develop practical soft identifiers for modeling the tool-tissue force as well as the resulted maximum local stress in laparoscopic surgery. To conduct the system identification process, a 2D model of an in vivo porcine liver was built for different probing tasks. Based on the simulation, three different geometric features, i.e. maximum deformation angle, maximum deformation depth and width of displacement constraint of the reconstructed shape of the deformed body are extracted. Thereafter, two different fuzzy inference paradigms are proposed for the identification task. The first identifier is an adaptive co-evolutionary... 

This paper introduces three geometric features, from deformed shape of a soft tissue, which demonstrate good correlation with probing force and maximum local stress. Using FEM simulation, 2D and 3D model of an in vivo porcine liver was built for different probing tasks. Maximum deformation angle, maximum deformation depth and width of displacement constraint of the reconstructed shape of the deformed body were calculated. Two neural networks were trained from these features and the calculated interaction forces. The features are shown to have high potential to provide force estimation either for haptic devices or to assess the damage to the tissue in large deformations of up to 40%  

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) has long been known as one of the most anonymous reasons for death around the world. A presentation of a model of what happens in the process has been under study for many years; and yet it remains a question due to physiological, geometrical and computational complications. Although the facilities for soft tissue modeling have improved and the precise CT-imaging of human head has revealed novel details of brain, skull and the interface (the meninges), a comprehensive FEM model of TBI is still being studied. This study aims to present an optimized model of human head including the brain, skull, and the meninges after a comprehensive study of the previous models.... 

The meshless element-free Galerkin method was generalized and an algorithm was developed for 3D dynamic modeling of deformable bodies in real time. The efficacy of the algorithm was investigated in a 3D linear viscoelastic model of human spleen subjected to a time-varying compressive force exerted by a surgical grasper. The model remained stable in spite of the considerably large deformations occurred. There was a good agreement between the results and those of an equivalent finite element model. The computational cost, however, was much lower, enabling the proposed algorithm to be effectively used in real-time applications  

In recent years, there hass been a pronounced emphasis on percutaneous needle steering with the aid of advanced soft tissue modeling techniques. In this work an optical flow based motion estimation method is used to estimate the force applied to the needle by the soft tissue during percutaneous applications. The study considers Finite Element Model (FEM) of the tissue evaluated by the deformation data acquired through the optical flow method. To represent the soft tissue behavior, dynamic FEM with Rayleigh damping and viscoelastic models are used. The method is validated experimentally through offline evaluation of the ultrasonic images of the chicken breast punctured by a needle. The force... 

In this paper, a model-based dynamics equation for the needle movement through the soft tissue is developed. A model-based control scheme which uses the force estimation calculated through the simulated tissue deformation data and the dynamic finite element as the tissue model is proposed. To compare the performance of the proposed controller, a PD controller is also used for the proposed needle dynamics equation. It is shown that even with uncertainty in model parameters; the mode-based controller outperforms the PD controller. Furthermore, although increasing the controller gain improves the performance of PD, but the model-based controller's performance is still superior  

Needle insertion into the soft tissue has been the subject of many studies during the last decade, while needle control has become a crucial training tool, evaluating surgeon's skills in such critical incision. This study considers a model-based dynamics equation for the needle movement through the soft tissue. In the proposed model, the force distribution along the needle shaft is estimated through the use of tissue deformation data and tissue model. A novel algorithm for the needle control simulation is also proposed based on the developed dynamics equation of the needle movement. To point out the role of mechanical properties of the soft tissue, an inverse dynamics control method is used... 

Although 'Needle steering' is considered a challenge in needle insertion strategies, needle control becomes a crucial training tool for evaluating surgeon's skills in such critical incision. In this study, a model-based dynamics equation for the needle movement through the soft tissue is developed. In the proposed control scheme, the force estimation calculated through the simulated tissue deformation data and the dynamic finite element as the tissue model, is used as the force feedback. To point out the role of mechanical properties of the soft tissue, an inverse dynamics control method is used to demonstrate the system performance in presence of uncertainty in tissue mechanical parameters.... 

In this paper, the Monte Carlo technique is used to determine the optical detection strategies in three-layered (maternal, amniotic fluid and fetal) tissue model. This model is utilized to estimate the transabdominal optical power and optimum source-detector (S-D) separation. Results based on the launching of 2 million photons with 1 mW optical power showed that the expected optical power output is in the range of 10 -6-10 -10 W/cm 2 depending on S-D separation. Considering the limit of the signal processing methods (such as adaptive noise cancelling) and the use of silicon photodetector, an S-D separation of 4 cm has been selected as a practical compromise between signal level and... 

A new reflectance optical sensor array for locating fetal signal transabdominally has been determined in this study. The selection of optical sensor array is based on the highest Irradiance (μW/m2) value estimated on respected detectors. A three-layer semi-infinite tissue model which consists of maternal, amniotic fluid sac and fetal tissues is employed to study the optical sensor array configuration. By using statistical error approach, the number of rays injected to the system can be set to 1 million rays with ±3.2% of simulation error. The simulation results obtained from Monte Carlo technique reveal that diamond configuration is the most suitable configuration of reflectance optical... 

Intravitreal injection (IVI) is the most common treatment for eye posterior segment diseases such as endopthalmitis, retinitis, age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, uveitis, and retinal detachment. Most of the drugs used to treat vitreoretinal diseases, have a narrow concentration range in which they are effective, and may be toxic at higher concentrations. Therefore, it is critical to know the drug distribution within the eye following intravitreal injection. Having knowledge of drug distribution, ophthalmologists can decide on drug injection frequency while minimizing damage to tissues. The goal of this study was to develop a computer model to predict intraocular... 

In this investigation, a systematic sequential intelligent system is proposed to provide the surgeon with an estimation of the state of the tool-tissue interaction force in laparoscopic surgery. To train the proposed intelligent system, a 3D model of an in vivo porcine liver was built for different probing tasks. To capture the required knowledge, three different geometric features, i.e. Y displacement of the nodes on the upper surface and slopes on the closest node to the deforming area of the upper edge in both X-. Y and Z-. Y planes, were extracted experimentally. The numerical simulations are conducted in three independent successive stages. At the first step, a well-known... 

In this paper, we exploit a fuzzy controller on a flexible bevel-tip needle to manipulate the needle's base in order to steer its tip in a preset obstacle-free and target-tracking path. Although the needle tends to follow a curvature path, spinning the needle with an extremely high rotational velocity makes it symmetric with respect to the tissue to follow a straight path. The fuzzy controller determines an appropriate spinning to generate the planned trajectory and, the closed-loop system tries to match the needle body with that trajectory. The swine's brain tissue model, extracted from an in-vitro experimental setup, is a non-homogenous, uncertain and fast-updatable network to model real... 

Although there are many works in which path planning of robots is studied, but path planning of the bevel-tip needles with highly flexible body is different and difficult due to unique properties of soft tissues. Real soft tissues are nonhomogeneously elastic and uncertainly deformable and hence, during needle motions the planned path changes unknowingly. In this paper, a novel adaptive path planning of bevel-tip needles inside the uncertain brain tissue is presented. The proposed approach is based on minimization of a Lyapanov energy function used as the cost function which consists of 6 partial costs: path length, number of changes in bevel direction, tissue deformation, horizontal and... 

In conducting mechanical tests on the brain tissue, it is preferred to perform multiple tests on the same sample. In this study, we investigated the behavior of the bovine brain tissue in repeated compression tests wit h 0 recovery periods (namely, 10, 60, 120, 180, 240, and 300 s). Compression tests were performed on cylindrical samples with average diameter and height of 18.0 mm and 15.0 mm, respectively. Two testing protocols were employed; t he first one comprised experiments wit h 5, 25, and 125 mm/min loading speeds up to 33% strain and the second one consisted of tests with 25 and 125 mm/min loading speeds up to 17% strain. Each experiment was conducted in two cycles separated by a... 

In conducting mechanical tests on the brain tissue, it is preferred to perform multiple tests on the same sample. In this study, we investigated the behavior of the bovine brain tissue in repeated compression tests wit h 0 recovery periods (namely, 10, 60, 120, 180, 240, and 300 s). Compression tests were performed on cylindrical samples with average diameter and height of 18.0 mm and 15.0 mm, respectively. Two testing protocols were employed; t he first one comprised experiments wit h 5, 25, and 125 mm/min loading speeds up to 33% strain and the second one consisted of tests with 25 and 125 mm/min loading speeds up to 17% strain. Each experiment was conducted in two cycles separated by a... 

Oral administration is a pillar of the pharmaceutical industry and yet it remains challenging to administer hydrophilic therapeutics by the oral route. Smart and controlled oral drug delivery could bypass the physiological barriers that limit the oral delivery of these therapeutics. Micro- and nanoscale technologies, with an unprecedented ability to create, control, and measure micro- or nanoenvironments, have found tremendous applications in biology and medicine. In particular, significant advances have been made in using these technologies for oral drug delivery. In this review, we briefly describe biological barriers to oral drug delivery and micro and nanoscale fabrication technologies.... 

An extension to the classical mass-spring model for more realistic simulation of soft tissues for surgery simulation was proposed. The conventional equations of mass-spring model were generalized for non-linear springs, and model parameters were tuned using experimental data. Results show that the proposed model is fast and interactive, and also demonstrate the typical nonlinear and visco-elastic behaviors of soft tissues well. © 2008 The authors. All rights reserved