The biopsy robot can position the biopsy needle much more accurately by using both ultrasound images and a previously made MRI scan. Ultrasound images show exactly where the needle is, but the suspicious tissue, from which a biopsy has to be taken, is not clearly visible. The MRI scan is used for this.
Biopsy robot recognizes suspicious tissue
The robot determines the exact location for taking a biopsy on the basis of the ultrasound images and the MRI scan. The needle is guided by the robot to exactly the right place, after which taking the biopsy is just a matter of ‘a push of a button’.
During the process, the doctor is shown a combined image showing both the needle and the suspicious tissue. This allows the robot to position the biopsy needle exactly ‘in’ the suspicious tissue. “Mona Lisa provides us with the best of both worlds,” says urologist Harm van Melick.
First in the Netherlands
At the moment it is St. Antonius still the only Dutch hospital, and one of ten hospitals worldwide, where the Mona Lisa biopsy robot is used. “The manufacturer selected us for the pilot because we have a lot of experience with the biopsy and treatment of prostate cancer,” says Van Melick. In the coming period, it will be determined whether the hospital will definitively purchase the robot. This includes looking at the return on any investment.
The choice of St. Antonius as a pilot environment for the biopsy robot was partly due to the fact that the hospital houses one of the largest treatment centers for prostate cancer in our country. Nearly 2000 MRI scans of the prostate are made every year and urologists take biopsies from around 700 men with suspected prostate cancer.
“With this device, there is more chance of a reliable result. You don’t want to miss malignant tissue when it is there. Then you get a false negative result and you do not treat the patient optimally,” concludes Van Melick.
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