#robotics #health
#robotics #health
Originally shared by Lacerant Plainer
Robotic maggots proposed for destroying Brain Tumors : Even though this is at the concept stage, its quite evocative!
From Sources (in links): Robotic maggots might be making their way into people's brains. Inspired by a TV show where plastic surgeons use maggots to eat away dead tissue, neurosurgeon J. Marc Simard of the University of Maryland School of Medicine has been developing a prototype for a larvae-esque robot that could get eat away at a brain tumor from the inside.
The bendy bot can zap tumors with an electrocautery tool, then suction out the dead tissue. It can be controlled remotely, making it possible for the surgeon to monitor the tumor and direct the robot to certain tissue while the patient is undergoing an MRI.
Steve Krosnick, M.D., a program director at NIBIB, says real-time MRI guidance during brain tumor surgery would be a tremendous advantage. “Unlike pre-operative MRI or intermittent MRI, which requires interruption of the surgical procedure, real-time intra-operative MRI offers rapid delineation of normal tissue from tumor while accounting for brain shifts that occur during surgery.”
Designing a neurosurgical device that can be used inside an MRI magnet is no easy task. When you scan a person’s brain during an MRI, he’s deep inside the machine’s tunnel. The problem is, how do you get your hands on the brain while the patient’s in the scanner? The team’s solution was to give the surgeon robotic control of the device in order to circumvent the need to access the brain directly.
The most challenging aspect of the project has been designing a robot that can be controlled inside the magnetic field of an MRI. While robots are often controlled via electromagnetic motors, this was not an option because, besides being magnetic, these motors create significant image distortion, making it impossible for the surgeon to perform the task. Instead, Desai decided to use shape memory alloy (SMA)—a material that alters its shape in response to changes in temperature—to control the robot’s movement. In the most recent prototype—developed by Desai and his team at the Robotics, Automation, and Medical Systems (RAMS) laboratory at the University of Maryland, College Park—a system of cables, pulleys and SMA springs are used. This cable and pulley system is an improvement from their previous prototype which caused some image distortion.
Main Article Link: http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-09/robo-maggots-will-munch-through-brain-tumors
Additional Article source (NIH): http://www.nibib.nih.gov/news-events/newsroom/robots-could-one-day-help-surgeons-remove-hard-reach-brain-tumors
Maryland Robotics link (Really interesting) : http://robotics.umd.edu/research/projects/Desai_Intracranial_Robot.php
Additional News article: http://news.discovery.com/tech/robotics/maggot-like-robot-eats-brain-tumors-130910.htm
Video link: Minimally Invasive Neurosurgical Intracranial Robot
#science #scienceeveryday #robot #surgery #flexibility #MRI
Originally shared by Lacerant Plainer
Robotic maggots proposed for destroying Brain Tumors : Even though this is at the concept stage, its quite evocative!
From Sources (in links): Robotic maggots might be making their way into people's brains. Inspired by a TV show where plastic surgeons use maggots to eat away dead tissue, neurosurgeon J. Marc Simard of the University of Maryland School of Medicine has been developing a prototype for a larvae-esque robot that could get eat away at a brain tumor from the inside.
The bendy bot can zap tumors with an electrocautery tool, then suction out the dead tissue. It can be controlled remotely, making it possible for the surgeon to monitor the tumor and direct the robot to certain tissue while the patient is undergoing an MRI.
Steve Krosnick, M.D., a program director at NIBIB, says real-time MRI guidance during brain tumor surgery would be a tremendous advantage. “Unlike pre-operative MRI or intermittent MRI, which requires interruption of the surgical procedure, real-time intra-operative MRI offers rapid delineation of normal tissue from tumor while accounting for brain shifts that occur during surgery.”
Designing a neurosurgical device that can be used inside an MRI magnet is no easy task. When you scan a person’s brain during an MRI, he’s deep inside the machine’s tunnel. The problem is, how do you get your hands on the brain while the patient’s in the scanner? The team’s solution was to give the surgeon robotic control of the device in order to circumvent the need to access the brain directly.
The most challenging aspect of the project has been designing a robot that can be controlled inside the magnetic field of an MRI. While robots are often controlled via electromagnetic motors, this was not an option because, besides being magnetic, these motors create significant image distortion, making it impossible for the surgeon to perform the task. Instead, Desai decided to use shape memory alloy (SMA)—a material that alters its shape in response to changes in temperature—to control the robot’s movement. In the most recent prototype—developed by Desai and his team at the Robotics, Automation, and Medical Systems (RAMS) laboratory at the University of Maryland, College Park—a system of cables, pulleys and SMA springs are used. This cable and pulley system is an improvement from their previous prototype which caused some image distortion.
Main Article Link: http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-09/robo-maggots-will-munch-through-brain-tumors
Additional Article source (NIH): http://www.nibib.nih.gov/news-events/newsroom/robots-could-one-day-help-surgeons-remove-hard-reach-brain-tumors
Maryland Robotics link (Really interesting) : http://robotics.umd.edu/research/projects/Desai_Intracranial_Robot.php
Additional News article: http://news.discovery.com/tech/robotics/maggot-like-robot-eats-brain-tumors-130910.htm
Video link: Minimally Invasive Neurosurgical Intracranial Robot
#science #scienceeveryday #robot #surgery #flexibility #MRI
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