Developing a Parallel Robot for MRI-Guided Breast Intervention

In MRI-guided breast intervention, the biopsy procedure is carried out by manually inserting a biopsy gun. However, some lesions are barely accessible with conventional tools, and the imaging process must be repeated multiple times for a better insertion coordinate. In this paper, we present a parallel robot for MRI-guided breast intervention. The robot employs a nonmagnetic, compact design, and has a unique three-link-four-rotational (3-4R) parallel mechanism that can insert the biopsy gun from various angles. The robot is remotely driven by a cable-actuated system and piezo-electric motors. It can be safely operated inside MRI bores with promising biopsy needle targeting accuracy. Comparative experiments are performed to validate the kinematics and to evaluate the performance on repetitive accuracy, structural stiffness, cable tension, and magnetic resonance. The experimental results show that the robot satisfies the operational requirements and can provide effective assistance in clinical breast biopsy.