Modular Software Design for Brachytherapy Image-Guided Robotic Systems

Modular software design is a technique that increase reusability and portability of software composed from separate parts, called modules. We have designed and developed a reusable integrated software solution for robotic prostate brachytherapy procedure. The application is capable of concurrent handling of all aspects of the image-guided brachytherapy procedure: ultrasound image acquisition, anatomic delineation, target modeling, dosimetry planning and analysis, seed delivery, and visualization of all surgerical steps involved in the procedure. Based on force feedback and visual feedback, the control module of the application is capable of controlling the robotic system (i.e. motions of the ultrasound probe and the needles), supervising the flow of the procedure via built-in strategies for emergency handling and recovery, collision avoidance, manual takeover (if necessary), needle tracking and real-time dose updates. The implementation of the developed software solution to the two brachytherapy robotic systems has been presented.