Research & News
Research & news
Curated coverage of new papers, first-in-human reports and technique developments in interventional CT/MRI-guided (and adjacent) therapy — populated automatically from each monthly newsletter's own research. Showing the last 12 months; see Older Research & News for everything before that.
Clinical Criteria for Improved Outcomes in Patients Who Undergo Percutaneous CT-Guided Pudendal Nerve Cryoablation: A Retrospective Analysis.
Journal of vascular and interventional radiology : JVIR · 2026 Sep
A 10-year retrospective analysis of 362 CT-guided pudendal nerve cryoablations found that predefined clinical selection criteria (antecedent event, unilateral pudendal-distribution pain) were associated with improved outcomes among the 75 unilateral cases with adequate follow-up.
CT-guided RFA using a urine-hyperexcreting protocol in treating endophytic RCC: long-term outcomes in a single-arm study.
The British journal of radiology · 2026 Sep 1
A single-arm study of 61 patients undergoing CT-guided RFA of endophytic RCC using a urine-hyperexcreting protocol (furosemide plus saline) reported a 5-year local tumor progression-free survival rate of 96.7% with long-term follow-up (median 54 months).
Comparison of automated robotic arm-assisted PET/computed tomography-guided metabolic bone marrow biopsy with conventional bone marrow trephine biopsy for evaluating bone marrow infiltration in newly diagnosed lymphoma.
Nuclear medicine communications · 2026 Sep 1
In a prospective study of 169 treatment-naive lymphoma patients, automated robotic-arm-assisted PET/CT-guided bone marrow biopsy was compared with conventional trephine biopsy in 44 patients with focal FDG-avid lesions to evaluate diagnostic performance for bone marrow infiltration.
Interleaved Imaging and Actuation for Real-Time MRI During Active Control of a Magnetically-Actuated Robotic Catheter.
IEEE transactions on bio-medical engineering · 2026 Sep
Researchers developed an interleaved imaging-actuation method that synchronizes magnetically-actuated robotic catheter control with MR image acquisition, showing no statistically significant increase in image artifacts compared to the catheter at rest while maintaining trajectory tracking accuracy.
Saline tract sealing to prevent pneumothorax and chest tube placement after computed tomography (CT)-guided lung biopsy: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Clinical radiology · 2026 Sep
A systematic review and meta-analysis assessed saline tract-sealing techniques (versus autologous blood, fibrin glue, collagen plugs) to reduce pneumothorax after CT-guided lung biopsy, noting baseline pneumothorax rates of about 25% and chest tube requirement in 5-6% of cases.
Tract Embolization versus No Embolization after CT-Guided Lung Biopsy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Journal of vascular and interventional radiology : JVIR · 2026 Sep
A systematic review and meta-analysis compared tract embolization versus no embolization after CT-guided percutaneous lung biopsy, pooling risk ratios across studies to assess effectiveness in preventing pneumothorax and chest tube placement.
Iceball Margin < 5 mm Is Associated with Local Failure after CT-Guided Cryoablation of cT1a Renal Cell Carcinoma.
Journal of vascular and interventional radiology : JVIR · 2026 Sep
In a study of CT-guided percutaneous cryoablation for cT1a renal cell carcinoma, an iceball minimal treatment margin under 5 mm was associated with local treatment failure, based on matched-control analysis of intraprocedural and planning CT data.
MRI-guided endovascular robotics: A roadmap to MRI-native systems.
APL bioengineering · 2026 Sep
A perspective outlines the roadmap toward MRI-native endovascular robotic systems, arguing that translating MRI-guided robotic catheter interventions into routine practice requires MRI-robot co-design rather than simple compatibility adaptation of instruments, imaging/feedback, and navigation.
Robot-assisted biopsy a bibliometric analysis of global trends, hotspots, and emerging frontiers (2000-2025).
Journal of robotic surgery · 2026 Aug 28
A bibliometric analysis of global research from 2000-2025 maps trends, key contributors, and emerging frontiers in robot-assisted biopsy techniques, which combine robotic manipulation, path planning, and multimodal imaging fusion for precise sampling of deep-seated lesions across urology, neurosurgery, and thoracic intervention.
Do robotic needle systems improve precision and efficiency? Evidence from a systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical and preclinical studies
Journal of Robotic Surgery · 2026-08-14
Pooling 40 studies (14 clinical, 834 patients), robotic needle guidance modestly improved placement accuracy but showed no statistically significant advantage in procedure time, success rate, or complications versus manual technique - a useful check on the assumption that robotic automatically means better outcomes.
Ion Robotic Bronchoscopy-Guided Microwave Ablation Under Augmented Fluoroscopy: An Initial Case Series and Comparative Procedural Workflow Analysis
Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology · 2026-08-13
In a 21-patient prospective cohort, Ion robotic-bronchoscopy-guided microwave ablation of lung lesions matched or beat a historical electromagnetic-navigation cohort on technical success (100% vs 92.9%) while cutting navigation time from 28.5 to 2 minutes and radiation dose nearly in half.
Flexible intervention workflow for MRI guided robotic prostate seed brachytherapy
Journal of Applied Clinical Medical Physics · 2026-08
A phantom study (not yet clinical) repurposing an existing MRI-compatible robotic biopsy guide for seed brachytherapy achieved sub-millimeter robotic targeting precision, though seed-release and MRI-only localization errors still measurably affected dose coverage.
Efficacy of saline tract sealing after CT-Guided lung biopsy: a systematic review and meta-analysis
Clinical Radiology · 2026-08
Pooling 7 studies (1,455 patients), sealing the needle tract with saline after CT-guided lung biopsy roughly halved the rate of pneumothorax and cut chest-tube placement by about 75% versus usual care.
Robotic-Assisted Computed Tomography-Guided Percutaneous Bone Procedures: A Prospective Multicenter Pilot Study
Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology · 2026-07-29
A prospective multicenter pilot (34 patients, 90 needle insertions for spine/pelvis bone consolidation or ablation, using the Epione platform) found robotic insertion feasible in 98.9% of cases with sub-3mm targeting accuracy and no device-related adverse events. Disclosed conflict of interest: the study was institutionally funded by Quantum Surgical, the platform's manufacturer.
First-in-human pilot study of a robotic-assisted system for image-guided trans-thoracic lung biopsy: Clinical feasibility and exploratory post-hoc AI trajectory analysis
European Journal of Radiology · 2026-07-16
In 30 evaluable patients, a patient-mounted robotic needle-guidance platform (ANT-C) achieved 100% clinical success, with procedure time roughly halving (61 to 31 minutes) as operators gained experience.
Paramaxillary (Transfacial) Approach for CT-Guided Head and Neck Biopsies
AJNR · 2026-07-01
A technique paper detailing a CT-guided transfacial pathway for biopsying deep head-and-neck lesions (parapharyngeal space, carotid space, skull base) that are otherwise hard to reach safely.
Analgosedation in interventional radiology
RoFo · 2026-06-17
A CIRSE-linked position paper argues interventional radiologists should build their own formal, guideline-backed sedation/analgesia competency rather than relying on anesthesiology capacity, citing CT-guided brachytherapy and percutaneous tumor ablation as procedures where non-anesthesiologist-administered sedation is already shown safe.
Computed tomography-guided vs conventional catheter ablation for ventricular tachycardia: the InEurHeart trial
European Heart Journal · 2026-06-16
A 14-center randomized trial (n=113) found CT-guided ventricular tachycardia ablation cut procedure time by 19-28% versus conventional ablation, with comparable safety and a non-significant trend toward better 1-year VT-free survival (76.8% vs 67.3%).
Micro-ultrasound guided versus multiparametric MRI-guided prostate biopsy: a systematic review and meta-analysis
International Urology and Nephrology · 2026-06-15
Across 12 studies (4,318 patients), micro-ultrasound-guided biopsy detected clinically significant prostate cancer at rates statistically indistinguishable from MRI-guided biopsy - a cheaper, more available modality performing comparably.
MRI-guided adaptive radiotherapy for high grade glioma (UNITED): a single-centre, single-arm, non-inferiority, phase 2 trial
The Lancet Oncology · 2026-06
A phase 2 trial (n=98) of small-margin, MRI-guided adaptive radiotherapy for glioblastoma on a 1.5T MR-Linac found only a 4% marginal-failure rate, supporting margin de-escalation without an apparent safety cost.