CT-Compatible Medical Drilling Stylet

Journal article (2012)

Authors

CJ Walsh External organisation
A.J.H. Meskers Mechatronic Systems Design - Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering
AH Slocum External organisation
R Gupta External organisation
Research Group
Mechatronic Systems Design (Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering) (TU Delft)
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Published Date

2012

Language

English

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Faculty

Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering

Department

Precision and Microsystems Engineering

Research Group

Mechatronic Systems Design

Abstract

This paper describes the design of a compact, lightweight CT-compatible, drill-press that is designed to be used in either a hand-held or stand-alone mode to assist with percutaneous bone based interventions. Previous medical drilling tools that have been developed have a metal structure and typically have one actuator for advancing the drill (feed) and another for rotating it (speed). After defining the device's functional requirements and specifications, a deterministic design process was followed to generate several design concepts that were then evaluated based on their ability to satisfy the functional requirements. A final concept that uses a custom screw-spline to achieve helical motion of a shaft that is attached to a standard orthopedic drill was selected for prototyping. The design uses a single actuator to drive both the screw and spline nuts through two different gear ratios, resulting in a fixed ratio between the feed and speed. Apart from the motor which is placed away from the central drill axis, the device is largely made from plastic materials. A custom experimental setup was developed that enabled drilling into bone inside a CT scanner to be examined. Results showed that the device was successfully able to penetrate thick cortical bone and that its structure did not appreciably distort the medical images.

Keywords: medical robotics, computed tomography, X-ray, drill, interventional radiology, bone