Post-doc position: Visual servoing for tumor tracking in minimally invasive robotic surgery

24 Janvier 2024

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Catégorie : Post-doctorant

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#Context:Liver cancer is a leading cause of cancer death worldwide. An estimated 830,000 people around the world died from the disease in 2020. Liver resection is considered as one of the most effective treatments. In this respect, laparoscopic liver resection (LLR) comes up by reducing substantially patient trauma compared to open liver resection. The patient recovers faster which in return reduces healthcare costs.

However, the use of LLR remains limited. This is because of three challenges. First, controlling intraoperative bleeding using laparoscopic instruments requires advanced technical skills. Second, the surgeon cannot manually palpate the liver and thus cannot locate the tumors and their resection margins easily. Consequently, this raises a risk of inadequate resection on the patient’s liver such as the removal of too much healthy tissue and the leaving of some cancerogenic tissue behind. Third, laparoscopic ultrasonography (LUS), the only tool for intraoperative subsurface imaging which allows real-time tumor localization, has a long learning curve. This is because its design consists of a small transducer with a small field of view attached to the end of a long shaft with a pivoting mechanism.

In order to ease LLR, robotic solutions would provide great assistance by controlling the LUS. The goal of this postdoc position is to develop and implement a solution for tumor localization and tracking using robotically-controlled LUS probe on the deformable liver surface. Visual servoing will be based on the images of the laparoscope and the LUS probe. The setup includes a robotic arm mounted with a LUS probe, a camera and a phantom liver organ.

#Research: We are looking for a highly motivated postdoc to study multimodal servoing on a deformable liver. The post-doc will focus on the following open problems:

1. Tumor searching via contact servoing on the liver surface.

2. Tumor tracking via multimodal visual servoing while the liver deforms.

The post-doc will be in close collaboration with the scientists and surgeons and the successful outcome of this position will simplify mini-invasive liver surgery. It will shorten hospital stays, improve surgical safety and accuracy, and contribute to an overall better quality of patient life and reduction of healthcare costs.


#Requirements: Applicant must have:
1/ PhD degree in Computer Science or Robotics;
2/ Excellent programming skills in C++ and python;
3/ Strong background in computer vision and robotics;

4/ Proficiency in written and spoken English language.

#Application:Applicant must submit:
(1) a one-page cover letter;(2) curriculum vitae with publications list; (3) Two reference letters;(4) The earliest possible starting date. All should be sent, in a SINGLE PDF document, with the email subject[Postdoc application - VS for MIS] to: youcef.mezouar@sigma-clermont.frerol.ozgur@sigma-clermont.frmohammad.alkhatib@sigma-clermont.fr

Once we receive your application and if it fits well for the position, then you will be contacted within two weeks.