[biomed] [ccm-l] Canadian robot does better brain surgery

Wed Apr 18 07:22:16 UTC 2007

----- Forwarded message from David Walker <dwalker at CHILDRENSCENTRALCAL.ORG> -----

From: David Walker <dwalker at CHILDRENSCENTRALCAL.ORG>
Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2007 20:53:24 -0700
To: ccm-l at ccm-l.org
Subject: [ccm-l] Canadian robot does better brain surgery
X-Mailer: Novell GroupWise Internet Agent 7.0.1 

Score one for the Canadians!!!!!
Dave

Canadian robot does better brain surgery 
Posted 5h 59m ago   
 eff McIntosh, CP via AP 

The University of Calgary unveiled the world's first MRI-compatible
robot for brain surgery. The robot can perform surgeries that are too
delicate for human hands. 

CALGARY (Reuters) — Canadian scientists and engineers have developed a
robot with a keen sense of touch that will let doctors perform
microscopic operations on the brain using the most vivid visuals yet,
they said Tuesday.
A melding of brain surgery and rocket science, the neuroArm allows
neurosurgeons to do their riskiest work on patients within a magnetic
resonance imaging machine, or MRI, giving a clear 3-D picture of even
the smallest nerves.

It is expected to be used in its first operation this summer at
Calgary's Foothills Hospital, site of the University of Calgary medical
school's research facility.

The $24 million (C$27 million) robot was created in conjunction with the
company that built a robotic arm called CanadArm for NASA space
shuttles.

It will let doctors use surgical techniques on afflictions such as brain
tumors that human surgeons are simply not dexterous enough to do, said
Garnette Sutherland, a University of Calgary neurosurgeon who heads the
project.

It is major step beyond the traditional view of just doctors and nurses
operating on patients, he said.

"There's been tremendous collaboration, so we have now got in the
operating room a whole host of engineers and scientists who are
contributing to help make neurosurgery better," Sutherland told
reporters as the robot, armed with surgical tools, fiddled with tiny
objects behind him.

The neuroArm is controlled from a cockpit-like room, where the surgeon
grasps handles that let him feel pressure and texture, preventing blood
vessels and other tissue from being squeezed too hard during operations.

Years of training and practice give surgeons the steadiest hands, but
they can not match the neuroArm, which can be adjusted to take away any
unwanted movement.

That stands to lengthen the careers of neurosurgeons, who naturally
become shakier with age, Sutherland said.

The operator watches through a stereoscopic viewer, which provides depth
perception, and can glance at a large MRI picture on a nearby computer
screen. A doctor can even hear the robot work with microphones located
near the surgical instruments.

A touch-screen allows a 3-D graphic picture of the arms to be
manipulated in any direction.

"The goal of this is to make difficult surgeries easier, or impossible
surgeries possible," robotics engineer Alex Greer said as he
demonstrated the controls.

Sutherland and his team will start clinical testing of the machine for
Canadian health regulators in the coming weeks.

The long-term plan is to manufacture different versions of the neuroArm
and sell them to other hospitals, although there is no detailed
marketing plan in place yet, said Bruce Mack, vice president of
MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd., the firm that also developed
CanadArm.

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