|
KMID : 1147120130190010057
|
|
Journal of the Korean Society of Imaging Informatics in Medicine
2013 Volume.19 No. 1 p.57 ~ p.62
|
|
|
Development of a Thyroid Scanning Robot System using Ultrasonography : A preliminary evaluation
|
|
Kim Min-Tae
Jung Hyun-Chul
Cho Chang-Nho
Son Jae-Bum
Kim Kwang-Gi
|
|
|
Abstract
|
|
|
|
One of the shortcomings in ultrasonographic examination in the Ultrasonography is a simple, harmless diagnostic method which is widely used to visualize various body structures. However, many sonographers are experiencing PPffdain in examiner’s shoulder and elbows as it requires manual holding of a probe to perform a diagnosis. In this study, we developed a slave robot which can hold the ultrasound probe and perform ultrasonography on the thyroid of a human body. The robot is designed to move along an arch-shaped guide, and a force sensor is attached between the probe and the robot to regulate the applied force on the human skin. The robot was designed to have 3 degrees of freedom so as to scan from the jaw to the collarbone of a patient. We quantitatively analyzed the quality of the obtained ultrasound image using an MTF measure to establish the relationship between the force applied to human skin and the quality of the image. It was found that a smaller force improves the quality of the image. Furthermore, we experimentally obtained the optimal force value to obtain the best image quality. The developed robot can regulate the force applied to patients, and we expect that it can improve the efficiency of ultrasonographic examinations.
|
|
|
KEYWORD
|
|
|
Ultrasonography, Thyroid, Robot system
|
|
|
FullTexts / Linksout information
|
|
|
|
|
|
Listed journal information
|
|
|
|