English (United Kingdom)

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/featured_content/oa?rat=en

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/highlighted_journal/

Global: Zendy Plus annual

Presents the access of premium content as premium feature

Premium Content

Presents the keyphrase highlighting as premium feature

Keyphrase Highlighting

Presents the summarisation as premium feature

Summarisation

Insights

Presents the pdf analysis as premium feature

PDF Analysis

Presents the zaia usage as premium feature

ZAIA

Global: Zendy Tools annual

Global: Zendy Free Plan

Global: Zendy Tools monthly

Global: Zendy Plus monthly

Medical ultrasound is extensively used to define tissue textures and to characterize lesions, and it is the modality of choice for detection and follow-up assessment of thyroid diseases. Classical medical ultrasound procedures are performed manually by an occupational operator with a hand-held ultrasound probe. These procedures require high physical and cognitive burden and yield clinical results that are highly operator-dependent, therefore frequently diminishing trust in ultrasound imaging data accuracy in repetitive assessment. A robotic ultrasound procedure, on the other hand, is an emerging paradigm integrating a robotic arm with an ultrasound probe. It achieves an automated or semi-automated ultrasound scanning by controlling the scanning trajectory, region of interest, and the contact force. Therefore, the scanning becomes more informative and comparable in subsequent examinations over a long-time span. In this work, we present a technique for allowing operators to reproduce reliably comparable ultrasound images with the combination of predefined trajectory execution and real-time force feedback control. The platform utilized features a 7-axis robotic arm capable of 6-DoF force-torque sensing and a linear-array ultrasound probe. The measured forces and torques affecting the probe are used to adaptively modify the predefined trajectory during autonomously performed examinations and probe-phantom interaction force accuracy is evaluated. In parallel, by processing and combining ultrasound B-Mode images with probe spatial information, structural features can be extracted from the scanning volume through a 3D scan. The validation was performed on a tissue-mimicking phantom containing thyroid features, and we successfully demonstrated high image registration accuracy between multiple trials.

Feasibility of robot-assisted ultrasound imaging with force feedback for assessment of thyroid diseases