da Vinci–TRUS Frame Registration
Photoacoustic-marker-based registration between the da Vinci robot and transrectal ultrasound
Ph.D. research · Johns Hopkins University
Robot-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy would benefit from live transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) guidance, but the TRUS image and the da Vinci endoscopic view live in different coordinate frames — and the probe’s arc-shaped scanning geometry makes registering them nontrivial. I developed an arc-to-line registration method anchored by photoacoustic markers, and integrated it into a real-time guidance system demonstrated ex vivo on the da Vinci platform, in which the TRUS transducer automatically tracks the surgical instrument.
Key publications
- Arc-to-line registration method for ultrasound and photoacoustic image-guided intraoperative robot-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy — IJCARS, 2023 · 🏆 Siemens Best Paper Award: Runner-up, IPCAI 2023
- Real-time intraoperative surgical guidance system in the da Vinci surgical robot — IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 2022