Robotically assisted spine needle placement: Program plan and cadaver study

This paper 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 assist devices for improving the precision of needle placement and enabling the development of the next generation of precision guidance systems for interventional techniques.