TITLE:
Ultrasound Needle Guidance System for Precision Vaccinations and Drug Deliver
AUTHORS:
Semih Aslan, Mahbubur Rahman, Sourav Das, Bonnie Schnitta
KEYWORDS:
Ultrasonic, Needle Guidance System, eSNR, Image Processing, Piezo
JOURNAL NAME:
Circuits and Systems,
Vol.12 No.1,
January
29,
2021
ABSTRACT: Image-guided
needles are currently used for drug delivery in bodies, but the additional time
associated with aligning and maintaining the needle’s position results in increased patient discomfort
or risk of invasion of the human body. In this paper, a needle guidance system
using piezoelectric materials is designed and analyzed for precise drug
delivery without damaging parts of the body and improving processing time. A
piezoelectric generates an ultrasound wave that can propagate through different
mediums, and a second piezoelectric crystal can receive that energy and convert
it into voltage. A 1D real-time image represents the changes of the voltage
induced in the double piezoelectric crystal. Extensive data analysis and
visualization are done using different obstacles and location of the needle
verified for other mediums. The presence of obstacles in between those crystals
can be identified in the real-time grayscale image. The needle can reach its
destination using this image information as directional guidance. This guided
drug delivery improves patient recovery time and eliminates extra injuries that
can be caused due to wrong needle injections, such as lumbar puncture-related
nerve damage.