MRI guided robotic assisted pain therapy

Materials and Method.s The pneumatic robotic assistance system is fully MR-compatible and consists of a robot arm which can be manipulated in 6 degrees of freedom [1]. The robot arm is attached to a 180° arch that is mounted to the patient table of the scanner and can be passively prepositioned on the orbit at vertical (0°, ± 35°, ± 67°) at each sides of the orbital according to the region of interest (e.g. spine, liver, kidney, breast). Active positioning measurements are achieved via fiber optically coupled limit switches, rotational and linear incremental sensors (Fig. 1 a, b). Pneumatic cylinders with slow motion control have been developed to drive five degrees of freedom (DOF). Cross platform MRI compatibility has been achieved for 1.5 T MR scanner, Magnetom Symphony, Siemens, Erlangen, Germany (2) and 1.0 T Gyroscan , 1.5 T Intera Philips, Eindhoven NL and GE 1.5 Tesla is currently under preparation.