An integrated system for minimally invasive robot-assisted image-guided lung brachytherapy has been developed. The system incorporates an experimental setup for accurate radioactive seed placement with commercially available dosimetry planning software. The end result is a complete system that allows planning and executing a brachytherapy procedure with increased accuracy. The results of the in vitro seed placement evaluation show that seed misplacement has a significant effect on the volume receiving more than 200% of the dose (V200), and the minimum dosage received by 90% of the volume (D90).

An experimental test-bed for robot-assisted image-guided minimally invasive lung brachytherapy has been developed. The setup includes surgical robots, a device to accurately drop brachytherapy seeds, an ultrasound system, electromagnetic trackers, and navigational software. An evaluation using the test-bed was performed to compare the open procedure and the video-assisted thoracoscopic procedure with the proposed robot-assisted minimally invasive procedure under ultrasound image guidance and electromagnetic tracking. The results show that the use of robotic systems and image guidance can provide improved seed placement accuracy as compared to open surgery, while reducing the invasiveness of the procedure and trauma to the patient's body.