Robotically assisted spine needle placement: program plan and cadaver study

Gives an overview of our program plan in robotically assisted spine procedures and details an initial cadaver study. Low back pain is a common medical problem, and minimally invasive procedures such as nerve blocks are rapidly growing in popularity as a potential method of treatment. To assist the physician in needle placement during these procedures, we have investigated using a needle-driver robot developed at the Johns Hopkins Urology Robotics Laboratory. Robotic systems such as these have great potential as physician-assisting devices for improving the precision of needle placement and enabling the development of the next generation of precision guidance systems for interventional techniques