Science & Technology (Commonwealth Union) – The ability of robots performing surgery may have seemed like science fiction many decades ago, however now the possibility seems much closer than before. In recent years the advances in technology, has given scientists the ability to further enhance existing technologies and bring about new technologies with software and programs that can analyze vast amount of data.
Engineers at Johns Hopkins University have developed microscopic robots, each roughly the size of a pencil tip, designed to move through the body and deliver medication directly to infections within a beating heart.
The technology could offer an alternative to high-risk open-heart surgery and intravenous drug treatments that may be ineffective against life-threatening heart infections. In addition to cardiac care, the researchers indicated that the robots could also make it possible for more specific, minimally invasive treatment options of other difficult-to-reach medical conditions, that include cancer.
A senior author Axel Krieger, who is a medical roboticist recognised for developing robots capable of performing surgical procedures autonomously indicated that applying only a tiny pinprick, a micro robot can be inserted to carry out a procedure without causing infection or blood loss. He indicated that there is also no need for a surgeon to operate the device for it to deliver medication to the intended location reliably, safely and efficiently.
Krieger pointed out that there is a lot of areas beyond heart infections where this type of specifically aimed drug therapy and these types of steerable robots have the ability to play a key role. He indicated that it is really the cutting edge of surgical robotics.
The research has recently been published in the journal Advanced Materials Technologies.
Around 50,000 people in the United States develop endocarditis, an infection affecting the tissues of the heart, each year. Treatment typically involves administering intravenous antibiotics over several weeks. However, the approach can be unsuccessful because the medication may become too diluted before reaching the infected area.
Medical professional often has key challenges to consider in this situation. They include elevating antibiotic doses, which could possibly expose patients to toxicity levels, or going about with high-risk open-heart surgery.
The delivery of medication specifically to the infected heart tissue, the scientists formed magnetically driven robots that are referred to as “millirobots”. The name is an indication of their small dimensions, where each device is roughly as wide when compared to the tip of a pencil, and approximately the length of a grain of rice.
“Magnetic guidance is exciting because you don’t have to power the robot itself. It doesn’t carry batteries and motors,” explained Krieger. “The drugs can be delivered safely, with technology like the gradients and fields in an MRI. But instead of using it for imaging, it drives the millirobots.”
The researchers successfully evaluated the robots using artificial heart models designed to replicate the structure and movement of a human heart, as well as actual pig heart tissue. The robots navigated smoothly and independently, even when working against simulated blood flow.
The lead author Anuruddha Bhattacharjee, a former postdoctoral researcher at Johns Hopkins University who is now an assistant professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham indicated that they have the ability to inject a tiny robot, equipped with a small pill, into a vein. It can then travel directly to the target site, delivering medication precisely where it is needed while minimising invasiveness.
