NEEDLE POSITIONING APPARATUS

• US 20160074063A1
• Filed: 09/11/2015
• Published: 03/17/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/12/2014
• Status: Active Application

• Current Assignee: Brigham and Women's Hospital Incorporated, Canon USA, Inc. (Canon Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Brigham and Women's Hospital Incorporated, Canon USA, Inc. (Canon Inc.)
• Inventors: Arimitsu, Yasumichi, Onuma, Kazufumi, Kato, Takahisa, Hata, Nobuhiko, Song, Sang-Eun, Tuncali, Kemal, Tokuda, Junichi, Ninni, Brian, Olson, Lydia Gayle
• Granted Patent: US 10,285,670 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 10/0233 Pointed or sharp biopsy instruments
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/00911 for fields applied by a magnetic resonance imaging system
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2017/3409 including needle or instrument drives
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/374 NMR or MRI
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 2090/3954 magnetic, e.g. NMR or MRI
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/055 involving electronic [EMR] or nuclear [NMR] magnetic resonance, e.g. magnetic resonance imaging
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 90/11 with guides for needles or instruments, e.g. arcuate slides or ball joints

Abstract

A positioning apparatus including a needle holder having a through hole for regulating needle placement and movement, a needle positioning unit, and an engagement member that fixes a position of the needle holder with respect to the needle positioning unit. The needle holder is either least partially detachably attached to the needle positioning unit or deformable. The positioning apparatus may be designed to accommodate the placement of multiple needles.

Claims

1. A positioning apparatus comprising:

a needle holder having a through hole that is adapted to at least partially surround a needle to guide the needle in a longitudinal direction;

a needle positioning unit having a base part adapted for mounting on a patient and a moving part having at least two degrees of freedom, which holds the needle holder and moves together with the needle holder so as to position the needle holder, and an engagement member that fixes a position of the needle holder with respect to the needle positioning unit,

wherein the needle holder at least partially detachably attaches to the moving part of the needle positioning unit.

2. The positioning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the needle holder is adapted to release a needle after needle insertion.

3. The positioning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the needle holder at least partially detachably attaches to the engagement member.

4. The positioning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the needle holder and engagement member together at least partially detachably attaches to the moving part of the needle positioning unit.

5. The positioning apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the engagement member is configured to at least partially detachably attach to the needle positioning unit when on the top of the moving part of the needle positioning unit at an angle relative to the top surface of the needle positioning unit.

6. The positioning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the through hole is configured to provide for release of the needle after being inserted into an object by being guided along the through hole.

7. The positioning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the portion of the needle holder surrounding the through hole has a C-shape, a U-shape or a semicircle shape.

8. The positioning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the needle holder is configured to, or is capable of, being divided or deformed, so that the through hole includes an opening that extends in the longitudinal direction of the needle, and

wherein a width of the opening in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction is larger than or equal to a width of the needle in the direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction when the needle holder is divided or deformed.

9. The positioning apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a fixing member on the needle positioning unit and a fixing member on the engagement member, wherein one of the fixing member of the needle positioning unit and the fixing member of the engagement member comprises a protruding portion and the other comprises a recessed portion or hole for engaging the needle holder with the needle positioning unit.

10. The positioning apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a fixing member on the needle positioning unit that comprises one or more inset portions configured to hold a portion of the engagement member.

11. The positioning apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a fixing member on the needle positioning unit and a fixing member on the engagement member, wherein one of the fixing member of the needle holder and the fixing member of the engagement member comprises a hinging member and the other comprises a hinge receptor for engaging the needle holder with the needle positioning unit.

12. The positioning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the engagement member comprises a key that is adapted to slideably attach to the needle positioning unit via a keyway located on the needle positioning unit.

13. The positioning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the needle holder is completely detachable from the needle positioning unit.

14. The positioning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the needle positioning unit is adapted for use in a non-sterile field while the needle holder is adapted for use in a sterile field.

15. The positioning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the needle holder comprises an engageable shutter portion that, when engaged, prevents a needle from leaving the through hole.

16. The positioning apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a plurality of fiducial markers located on the base part of the needle positioning unit.

17. The positioning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the engagement member comprise a ring portion that detachably attaches to needle positioning unit, where the outer diameter of the ring portion is larger than an inner diameter of the needle positioning unit.

18. The positioning apparatus according to claim 17, wherein ring portion of the needle holder has an opening that is at least wide enough for a needle to fit therethrough.

19. The positioning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the needle holder comprises a needle guidance member which is positioned such that the bottom end of the needle guidance member is within 0 mm to 30 mm of the bottom plane of the positioning apparatus and the top end of the needle guidance member is within 30 mm to 70 mm of the bottom plane of the positioning apparatus.

20. The positioning apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the needle holder comprises a releasing mechanism adapted to release a needle via an energizing mechanism.

21. A multiple needle positioning apparatus comprising:

at least two needle holders, each having a through hole, the through hole adapted to at least partially surround a needle to guide the needles in a longitudinal direction; and

a needle positioning unit having at least two degrees of freedom that holds the at least two needle holders and moves together with the at least two needle holders so as to position the needle holders,

at least two engagement members that fix position of the needle holders with respect to the needle positioning unit, the at least two needle holders being at least partially detachably attached to the moving part of the needle positioning unit,

wherein the apparatus is adapted such that the at least two needle holders can, when sequentially attached to the needle positioning unit, position at least two needles without interfering with each other.

22. A method of placing multiple needles into an insertion location comprising:

securing at least part of a needle positioning apparatus over an insertion location;

acquiring an MR image of the insertion location;

specifying two or more needle target locations based on the acquired MR image;

calculating insertion directions for two or more needles for insertion at the needle target locations;

calculating the configurations of the needle positioning apparatus based on the insertion directions, such that the movement direction of the two or more needles held by the needle positioning apparatus would be regulated to the insertion direction;

rotating a portion of the needle positioning apparatus based on the calculated configuration for a first needle;

inserting a first needle;

releasing or removing the first needle from the needle holder;

rotating a portion of the needle positioning apparatus based on the calculations for a second needle;

inserting a second needle; and

releasing or removing the second needle from the needle holder.