Laboratory for Percutaneous Surgery (Perk Lab)

Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario
What the facility does

Computer-assisted interventions, image-guided surgery, surgical robotics, medical image computing.

Areas of expertise

Our research interest is computer-assisted surgery and interventions. This is a fascinating and complex field that covers medical imaging, image computing, scientific visualization, surgical planning and navigation, robotics, biosensors and, perhaps most importantly, integration of all these into workable clinical systems and translating them to clinical use. We further specialize in minimally invasive percutaneous (through the skin) interventions performed under image guidance, with primary application in the detection, diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

Research services

Image-guided surgery software, computer-assisted surgery application prototyping, open source software platforms

Sectors of application
  • Healthcare and social services
  • Life sciences, pharmaceuticals and medical equipment
EquipmentFunction
OEC 9880 C-arm fluoroscopeX-ray imaging
Sonix ouch ultrasound system with GPS extensionUltrasound imaging
SonixTablet ultrasound with GPS extensionUltrasound imaging
Ultrasound-guided prostate brachytherapy experimental setupTransperineal needle guide
Ascension trakSTAR electromagnetic tracker systemPosition tracking
NDI Polaris Spectra optical trackerPosition tracking
NDI Aurora electromagnetic tracker system with tabletop field generatorPosition tracking
Robotic needle guide (B-Rob I)4-DOF needle guidance
Commercial and in-house made anatomical phantomsPhantom experiments
MicronTracker Hx40 optical trackerPosition tracking
Image overlay augmented reality needle guidance system – experimental setup (Perk Station) 
  • Brigham and Women’s Hospital
  • Johns Hopkins University
  • Robarts Research Institute – Western University
  • Burdette Medical Systems Inc.