Bioengineers at Boston’s Children’s Hospital have developed a catheter “capable of autonomous navigation in the body,” which has been tested in pigs. Able to steer using an optical touch sensor with artificial intelligence [1] it was developed to “make surgery as safe as possible for patients”. The researchers have reported on their work in the journal Science Robotics. For Dr Dupont, who led the team, it is “equivalent to autonomous cars driving to the desired destination inside the body”. He sees these robots as “assistants” for surgeons, giving them more time and energy to work on more complex manoeuvres. He has thus compared the robots to a fighter plane piloted by a surgeon: “A fighter plane performs routine tasks so that the pilot can concentrate on the mission’s higher-level tasks”.
To demonstrate the device, the team performed a heart operation in pigs. The robotic catheter advanced single-handedly from the base of the heart, along the wall of the left ventricle and around the pierced valve until it reached the leak site. Once the leak location was identified, an experienced heart surgeon took over and completed the operation.
For Dr Dupont, this type of autonomous surgical robot could be used anywhere in the world, provided that data is shared to improve performance, just as all autonomous vehicles send their data to Tesla to refine its algorithms: “All clinicians in the world would operate with an equivalent level of competence and experience to the best practitioners in their field,” he said.
[1] Based on a map of cardiac anatomy and preoperative scans.
Pour le démontrer, l’équipe a réalisé une opération cardiaque chez le porc. Le cathéter robotique a avancé seul à partir de la base du cœur, le long de la paroi du ventricule gauche et autour de la valve percée jusqu’à atteindre l’emplacement de la fuite. Une fois l’emplacement de la fuite repéré, un chirurgien cardiaque expérimenté a pris le contrôle et terminé l’opération.
Pour le docteur Dupont, ce genre de robots de chirurgie autonomes pourrait être utilisé partout dans le monde, à condition de mettre en commun les données pour améliorer les performances, de la même manière que tous les véhicules autonomes transmettent leurs données à Tesla pour affiner ses algorithmes : « Chaque clinicien dans le monde opérerait avec un niveau de compétence et d’expérience équivalent à celui des meilleurs dans son domaine » affirme-t-il.
TechXplore (24/04/2019) – A first in medical robotics: Autonomous navigation inside the body
Daily Mail, Nathalie Rahhal Deputy (24/04/2019) – The first-ever self-driving robot surgeon: New device can navigate itself autonomously through the body