China's AI-powered robot promises minimally invasive brain surgeries
%2Favatars%2FEwuSxftyWaVt.png&w=96&q=75)
%2F2023%2F07%2F17%2Fimage%2Fjpeg%2FJPlCVM6C8nkvSShqqSJpXwGHklxx9duoKRHCFzYs.jpg&w=3840&q=75)
Today, less than 3% surgeries in the world are robot-assisted. The most common type of clinical robotic surgical system surgeons use includes a camera and mechanical arms with surgical instruments attached to them.
Robot assistance is known to provide more precision in brain surgeries than humans performing surgery, which may lead to damage to healthy tissues.
And now, a Hong Kong-based research center - the Centre for Artificial Intelligence and Robotics (CAIR) - has developed a robotics system for brain surgery that will rely on artificial intelligence for minimally invasive neurosurgery.
AI-powered robots more capable than humans?
Called MicroNeuro, the system integrates technologies such as flexible endoscopy, precision control, and AI to address the challenges introduced by the fragile brain tissue, small space, and difficulty in surgical manipulation, breaking the limit of human hand-eye-brain capability.
“MicroNeuro can be used to perform deep-seated intracranial surgeries, such as ventricle surgeries, decompression for trigeminal neuralgia and cerebral hemorrhage, helping millions of patients to relieve pain and save lives,” said the research center’s website.
“Brain surgery is a type of surgery that needs technology the most because it’s a very dangerous procedure,” said Liu Hongbin, the center’s executive director, in an interview with the South China Morning Post. “Surgeons really want to use AI and tech innovation to make this type of procedure much less invasive than it is now.”
Breaking the limits of human hand-eye coordination, MicroNeuro uses a flexible endoscope that enables a nonlinear surgical trajectory and reaches the targeted location of the surgery through the natural brain cavities in the least invasive manner.
Liu added that CAIR’s robotic system reduces brain tissue damage by at least 50 percent. This comes after trials were conducted in the Prince of Wales Hospital in Hong Kong during surgeries used to treat tumors in the center of the brain, reported SCMP.
Digitizing surgeries
The team that developed MicroNeuro is now developing an AI-enabled, fully sensorized, minimally invasive surgical flexible robot for neurosurgery. The goal would be to standardize treatments worldwide and let high-quality medical services benefit more patients.
CAIR is funded by Beijing’s state-run Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and Hong Kong’s InnoHK initiative.
SHOW COMMENT (1)
/2023/10/04/image/jpeg/h5yecZdSVOV1OXdxX0EaMs2zqAVRAIy482c6wcIv.jpg "F-22 became \"The Super Raptor\" with these upgrades")
/2023/09/08/image/jpeg/GOJZju4tHdDbyhKWk3l1w2NRhwbGMATEVgpOcDBQ.jpg "The future of medicine could lie in organoid research")
/2023/10/04/image/jpeg/edyTH7wBVGRCw06zSkmj84JbL9Z3QWGytZ93rAtk.jpg "Homo sapiens used another route to migrate out of Africa")
/2023/07/26/image/jpeg/9Dkowuh7yI1YIB0hFtRiZ5DWxel88daCnm1Eld3Y.jpg "Can AI accurately identify patients with respiratory symptoms?")
/2023/10/04/image/jpeg/h6h5SWEgXpzAemqwtvkjofYWmHkNCSsiqDP27zwZ.jpg "Chemistry Nobel Prize goes to quantum dots that guide surgeons")
/2023/10/04/image/jpeg/mxK2HCx3zNJKKQBocAvIQTYC7a5xxRYsau3xRRg6.jpg "FDA-approved drug, Amiloride reverses symptoms of ELAs")
/2023/09/14/image/jpeg/Ve0aCGvFSLp0CAq5VCSZU9HEmhnxEpni6LjG4BK6.jpg "How air quality systems could solve the biodiversity crisis")
/2023/09/22/image/jpeg/jcywo0YGSPVYnsmRrMl2BxTJ86hjJtl6Blaq3DSG.jpg "The future of harvesting electricity from air")
/2023/10/04/image/png/uZDSs7vy0tg9xGYNPTpebaWHAJ1IgCMFlz4zUiwn.png "CEOs say 47% of workforce unprepared for the future of work")
/2023/09/22/image/jpeg/hd1J991kaJ0so68o8OVeU417E9Bzrj97quX6S7wI.jpg "How much water is there on the Moon? Maybe not enough")