Surgeons successfully treat brain aneurysms utilizing a robot

Utilizing a robot to treat brain aneurysms is achievable and could take into consideration improved exactness while putting stents, coils and different gadgets, as indicated by late-breaking science exhibited today at the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference 2020. The conference, Feb. 19-21 in Los Angeles, is a world premiere meeting for scientists and clinicians committed to the science of stroke and brain health.

Robotic technology is utilized in surgery and cardiology, yet not for brain vascular strategies. In this study, Canadian researchers report the results of the first robotic brain vascular systems. They utilized a robotic system explicitly adapted for neurovascular systems. Software and hardware adaptations empower it to accommodate microcatheters, guidewires and different gadgets utilized for endovascular strategies in the brain. These alterations likewise give the operator additional exact fine-motor control contrasted with past system models.

“This experience is the first step towards achieving our vision of remote neurovascular procedures,” said lead researcher Vitor Mendes Pereira, M.D., M.Sc., a neurosurgeon and neuroradiologist at the Toronto Western Hospital, and professor of medical imaging and surgery at the University of Toronto in Canada. “The ability to robotically perform intracranial aneurysm treatment is a major step forward in a neuro-endovascular intervention.”

In the first case, a 64-year-old female patient gave an unruptured aneurysm at the base of her skull. The surgical group successfully utilized the robot to place a stent and afterward, utilizing the equivalent microcatheter, entered the aneurysm sac and made sure about the aneurysm by placing different coils. Every intracranial step was performed with the robotic arm. Since this first case, the group has successfully performed five extra aneurysm treatments utilizing the robot, which included deploying different gadgets, for example, flow-diverting stents.

“The expectation is that future robotic systems will be able to be controlled remotely. For example, I could be at my hospital and deliver therapy to a patient hundreds or even thousands of kilometers away,” Mendes Pereira said. “The ability to deliver rapid care through remote robotics for time-critical procedures such as stroke could have a huge impact on improving patient outcomes and allow us to deliver cutting-edge care to patients everywhere, regardless of geography.”

“Our experience, and that of future operators of this technology, will help develop the workflows and processes necessary to implement successful robotic programs, which will ultimately help establish remote care networks in the future,” Mendes Pereira said.