A Bio-Inspired Active Prostate Phantom for Adaptive Interventions

In this paper, a novel concept for a phantom of the prostate is introduced. To study and improve automated, robotized medical interventions, reliable phantoms are essential. During brachytherapy and biopsy, the prostate will undergo displacements and changes in orientation due to the needle insertion. Therefore, there is a shift in the target regions for radioactive seed deposition or biopsy acquisition. These shifts need to be taken into account for precise dosimetry. Furthermore, the organ can undergo deformations due to edemas with the same shifting result. Therefore, in this paper we propose a bioinspired phantom (BIP) for the prostate that is equipped with sensors and coupled with a numerical simulation for estimating deformations due to external forces. We have also put in place a cavity inside the phantom where pressure can be applied to enable the emulation of prostate growth due to inflammation. The phantom is conceived in such a way that it will be MRIsafe. It can thus be deployed for the in-bore study of automated brachytherapy and biopsy. In our evaluation, we verify that the changes in pose of the phantom can be correctly estimated and that these motions are plausible from a clinical point of view.