On the design and development of a breast biopsy navigation system: Path generation algorithm and system with its GUI evaluation

Breast cancer is a major problem for women throughout the world. It is the second most common factor for women´s death. Therefore, early detection by breast biopsy is a necessary process for decreasing the mortality rate. In the breast biopsy process, a surgical specialist is required. Moreover, the traditional breast biopsy procedure is based on 2D real-time ultrasound images guidance, while the procedure is done on a soft-breast tissue with 3D objects. To increase the surgeon´s performance in breast biopsy, and to reduce the error opportunity, we propose to develop a breast biopsy navigation system using optical tracking system and a passive robotic needle holder. This paper focuses on the process of developing the path generation algorithm, prototyped breast biopsy navigation system and its graphical user interface (GUI) that displays details to guide the surgeon in performing the procedure. A number of experiments have been done to test and evaluate the efficiency of the navigation system and its GUI. The result shows the success rate of this system is about 80%.