Needle placement accuracy in CT-guided robotic post mortem biopsy

Martin Gromniak,Maximilian Neidhardt,Axel Heinemann,Alexander Schlaefer,Klaus Püschel

doi:10.1515/cdbme-2020-0031

Abstract

Abstract Forensic autopsies include a thorough examination of the corpse to detect the source or alleged manner of death as well as to estimate the time since death. However, a full autopsy may be not feasible due to limited time, cost or ethical objections by relatives. Hence, we propose an automated minimal invasive needle biopsy system with a robotic arm, which does not require any online calibrations during a procedure. The proposed system can be easily integrated into the workflow of a forensic biopsy since the robot can be flexibly positioned relative to the corpse. With our proposed system, we performed needle insertions into wax phantoms and livers of two corpses and achieved an accuracy of 4.34 ± 1.27 mm and 10.81 ± 4.44 mm respectively.

Highlights

Forensic autopsies include a thorough examination of the corpse to detect the source or alleged manner of death as well as to estimate the time since death
Automated systems for tissue sample extraction with a robotic arm can be of valuable assistance to a medical examiner
We present a robotic biopsy system that can be integrated into the workflow of a forensic autopsy

Summary

Introduction

Forensic autopsies include a thorough examination of the corpse to detect the source or alleged manner of death as well as to estimate the time since death. A CT-scan of the corpse is performed and a medical examiner defines targets and needle trajectories for tissue biopsies which are of interest to him. Existing systems for image-guided needle placement involve custom-built robots which are rigidly attached to the CT table and only provide a rather small target volume [4, 5].

Results

Conclusion