Ankita Chattopadhyay, Amity University Kolkata
Robot- Automatically operated machine replacing human efforts.
Thread- A thin fine cord
The combination of these two words leads to the development of a completely new discovery which is “Robotic Thread”. If an acute stroke can be treated within the first 90 minutes, the survival rate of the patient’s increases. Robotic Thread is a thread-like robot that can glide through narrow blood vessels of the human brain.
It could offer an alternative for performing brain surgery while simultaneously being controlled outside by the operating room. It can be controlled entirely from different locations. It is described as “magnetically steerable, hydrogel-coated robotic thread” by the team in Science Robotics. They wanted to design a device that could reverse the blockage of the blood vessel within the golden hour, avoiding permanent brain damage.
Components-
The core of the thread is made of nickel-titanium alloy, which is springy and bendy. It is coated with rubbery paste or ink which is embedded with magnetic particles. The whole arrangement is then covered with hydrogel making the wire smooth and friction-free and finally it can be controlled using magnets.
Trial and testing-
The new model has been tested by the researchers in a life-size silicone replica of the brain’s major blood vessel modeled after scanning an actual brain. These vessels also have clots and abnormal sacs. The blood vessels were filled with liquid simulating the viscosity of blood followed by manipulating a large-sized magnet around the model to steer the robot to the vessels winding narrow paths. It was even showed that the wire core can also be replaced with an optical fiber activating the laser once the robot reached the target region to clear blockages. The process shall be prepared to test in vivo soon.
Process-
Recently, surgeons clear blood clots in the brain by insertion of a thin wire through a person’s main artery. The surgeons use a fluoroscope which provides an image of the blood vessels using X-rays while rotating and letting the wire into the damaged vessels. A catheter is then processed to deliver the drugs. But it serves the harm of the doctors, being exposed to repeated radiation and the wires carry the risk of damaging the linings.
The robotic thread, in contrast, is controlled by magnets and surgeons could guide it from outside of the rooms. They will be protected from repeated radiations and might be able to perform the process using a joystick. The hydrogel serves for this and there is a less risk of friction in the linings and device could help reach further into the brain.
Future of brain surgery-
The robotic thread is not ready yet for clinical use, but it’s demonstrated by the team its agility by steering the thread through an obstacle course of small rings. It is hoped that the wire might deliver clot-reducing drugs or break up blockages with a laser. In future, this may be paired with existing endovascular technologies enabling doctors to remotely guide the robot through a patient’s brain to quickly treat blockages.
Also read: Building a chemical blueprint for human blood
References-
- N. Padoy and G. D. Hager, “3D thread tracking for robotic assistance in tele-surgery,” 2011 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, San Francisco, CA, 2011, pp. 2102-2107, doi: http://10.1109/IROS.2011.6094906.
- R. C. Jackson, R. Yuan, D. -L. Chow, W. S. Newman and M. C. Çavuşoğlu, “Real-Time Visual Tracking of Dynamic Surgical Suture Threads,” in IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering, vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 1078-1090, July 2018, doi: http://10.1109/TASE.2017.2726689.
- L. Rai and Soon Ju Kang, “Multi-thread based synchronization of locomotion control in snake robots,” 11th IEEE International Conference on Embedded and Real-Time Computing Systems and Applications (RTCSA’05), Hong Kong, China, 2005, pp. 559-562, doi: http://10.1109/RTCSA.2005.62.
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