Succeeded in proof of concept to put a mini robot in a blood vessel and perform surgery
When a surgeon treats a clogged blood vessel, the treatment may involve carefully threading a very fine catheter into the lesion and injecting a contrast agent that can be seen on X-rays. In order to perform such treatment more easily, a method was developed in which a small robot that can move inside blood vessels was used to inject a contrast medium, and it was revealed that the experiment was successful.
Mini Robot Enters Blood Vessels, Completes Surgery - IEEE Spectrum
Symptoms caused by clogged blood vessels, such as stroke, myocardial infarction, and peripheral arterial disease, can be directly linked to human death, and these conditions are expected to increase further in the future as the world's population ages and obesity increases. Surgery to remove such clogs is a common treatment, but it is difficult for surgeons to manually insert surgical instruments into blood vessels, and they must rely on X-rays to confirm the location of the instruments. There is a problem that medical workers are inadvertently exposed to high doses of radiation.
To solve such problems, Gunhee Jang's team at Hanyang University came up with a solution using a robot that can be guided by magnets.
Jang and his colleagues developed software that uses X-ray images taken from various angles to create a 3D map of the blood vessels around the lesion. During actual treatment, a robot named ' I-RAMAN ' is injected into the blood vessel near the lesion using a catheter, and the robot is guided to the lesion using a 3D map and magnets.
Once the robot arrives at the place where treatment is needed, it can perform a variety of tasks, such as local administration of contrast agents or drugs, or aspiration of blood clots. When the robot has completed its work, the magnet pulls it back into the catheter and removes it from the body.
Jang first tested the technology on artificial blood vessels floating in a tank and was successful. After testing the robot on anesthetized pigs and conducting a total of eight experiments over the course of a year, we finally proved that this method was feasible.
“If the blood vessel has a complicated shape or is completely blocked, it will be difficult to accurately target the lesion, so the operation will take a long time,” says Jang. I was confident, but I realized that it's a completely different and difficult world to experiment with pigs.'
Jang's team plans to continue research with the aim of commercializing I-RAMAN, and has also established a bio-venture company named InterMag.
“Our pig experiments suggest ways to improve the microrobot and the magnetic navigation system,” Jang said. We plan to design it efficiently,” he said about his enthusiasm for the future. He also said he plans to apply for clinical trials with the Food and Drug Administration in South Korea.
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