Evaluation of the Access Cube Patient-Mounted Navigation System for CT-Guided Percutaneous Needle Placement-A Phantom Study

Free-hand computed tomography (CT)-guided interventions are common in interventional radiology. Their accuracy and technical success are highly dependent on the skill and experience of the performing interventionalist. This study evaluates a new, patient-mounted navigation device, which aims to facilitate percutaneous interventions-the Access Cube (AC). Sixty punctures were performed on 2 phantoms (rigid vs nonrigid) comparing the Free-Hand Method (FHM) to the AC on measures of accuracy, time, and the need for intraprocedural scans. Using the AC, punctures were significantly more accurate (3.8 mm +/- 1.3 mm vs FHM 6.7 mm +/- 4.5 mm, P = .004), significantly faster (263.1 s +/- 84.4 s vs FHM 411.2 s +/- 141.0 s, P < .001) and needed significantly fewer intraprocedural scans (1.4 +/- 0.6 vs FHM 2.8 +/- 0.4, P < .001). The AC may enable interventionalists to perform faster and more accurate punctures in a clinical setting.