Towards to a Robotic Assisted System for Percutaneous Nephrolithotomy

Percutaneous Nephrolithotomy is a recommended treatment method for large kidney stone removal. However, the first and most important step, i.e., getting the percutaneous access to create the tract between the targeted calyx and the flank skin, is challenging as the surgeon is often occupied by several tasks at a given time. Therefore, in this paper, we propose a robotic assisted system that collaborates with the surgeon and provides assistance in order for the surgeons to focus on more critical jobs resulting in better surgical performance. A procedure for this robot including three working stages is described. This procedure allows the surgeon to choose a suitable percutaneous target using an ultrasound probe based on his or her experience and the robot will track the respiratory motion of the target kidney stone and insert the needle automatically after the surgeon releases the probe. Experiments are conducted to demonstrate the procedure with the proposed assisted robot for PCNL.