'Smart' needle for percutaneous surgery: influential factor investigation.

Precise needle insertion is important for a number of percutaneous interventions. Yet it is difficult to achieve in practice due to target movement and needle deflection. Preliminary design and simulation of 'Smart Needle' are presented in this paper for active needle steering. This smart needle is designed to use piezoelectric actuators to adjust the needle tip position. Some simulations have been carried out to investigate the influences of the factors, such as input voltage, the length and thickness of the piezoelectric actuators etc. on the produced needle tip deflection. This information is useful in designing an effective smart needle that will need less electrical input in order to achieve certain needle displacement.