Welcome
This is a project where we explore ways of improving tissue sample extraction on behalf of MR-Labs at ST. Olavs Our goal is to make a solution that is easy to use, effective and provides high quality samples.
The project was originally divided into several sub-problems:
The Cutting/Drilling
Current procedure:
Manually lowered stationary hole-drill with manual moving plate. Drill-bits are created specifically at NTNU for this purpose.
Current Improvement:
CNC-milling
automates the cutting and allows for a variety of sample shapes and sizes. This solution does however produce more heat than the existing procedure and includes sideways-forces into the problem
Tissue Recognition/Mapping
Current procedure:
Manual Recognition by medical personnel by using MR photos and photos of each side of the slice. This is however suboptimal because it is really difficult to see cancerous tissue on frozen prostate with human eye (even for trained doctors)
Current improvement:
A project testing the possibility of hyperspectral imaging has been started.
The Gripping/Clamping
Current procedure:
Prostate slice is pushed from four sides by clamps. This is problematic as the clamps sometimes slip and the operator has to readjust them.
The Planning
Current procedure:
Usually takes several hours.
Possible improvements:
Provide a software which makes the planning easier and quicker
Obstacles:
Not very high priority
Temperature exposure
Current procedure: The workstation is cool
Possible improvements:
Regulate temperature precisely (Temperature-fluctuation is ok as long as it happens below limit.)
Obstacles:
Humidity from the frozen tissue
-10 is absolute limit, defrosting destroys sample
Team members
Øystein Nordrik
Peter Andreas Gisholt
Counselor
Håvard Vestad