Slashdot Mirror
Robot Snakes To Fight Cancer Via Natural Orifice Surgery
Hugh Pickens writes writes "BBC reports that on a robot snake that, guided by a skilled surgeon and designed to get to places doctors are unable to reach without opening a patient up, could help spot and remove tumors more effectively. Robot snakes could be as minimally invasive using body orifices or local incisions as points of entry. 'Surgery is a cornerstone treatment for cancer so new technologies making it even more precise and effective are crucial,' says Safia Danovi from Cancer Research UK. 'Thanks to research, innovations such as keyhole surgery and robotics are transforming the treatment landscape for cancer patients and this trend needs to continue.' Robot snakes could complement a robotic surgical system that has been used for the past decade — the Da Vinci surgical system — that is controlled by a surgeon sitting in a nearby chair and looking at a screen displaying the area of the body where the surgery is taking place. The surgeon manipulates the robot by pressing pedals and moving levers. Natural orifice surgery (warning: pictures of the inside of a person) has the potential to revolutionize surgery in the same way that laparoscopic surgery replaced open surgery. The objective is to enter the abdomen through an internal organ rather than through the skin — e.g. access via the mouth, esophagus and stomach, and then through the stomach wall. 'We are at the earliest stage of establishing the problems and proposing solutions,' says Rob Buckingham of OC Robotics, developer of the robot snake (video). 'Our prototype signals a direction of travel and is a milestone towards exploring a new surgical paradigm.'"
So having a living snake put up your ass is no longer merely a penalty for striking a Roman citizen now? Very creative.
This space unintentionally left blank.
I just read that the TSA is training their agents in this techniques.
Quite inspiring title. I will, in fact, use it to augment my collection of suave pick up lines.
I hadn't the slightest objection to his spending his time planning massacres for the bourgeoisie... (P.G. Wodehouse)
... targeting political opponents from within!
Delta-Mike November Bravo Tango
I'd be very happy if they had those snakes at the local doctors office and they could be trained to crush my kidney stones. Man... this hurts.
I was promised a flying car. Where is my flying car?
...that the creepy bug-machines they put in your stomach in Matrix1 were scifi only.
Robot snakes with lasers in your body. What could possibly go wrong! I know that one day we will look back at the times that unreliable human surgeons cut people, but I certainly wouldn't want to be an "early adopter" on this one.
access via the mouth, esophagus and stomach, and then through the stomach wall.
Option 1: the surgery is done via a camera, through the mouth, esophagus and stomach, and then through the stomach wall. Sutures will be also done by remote control - but they have to be secure enough to survive the acid of the stomach, and you better pray that they don't leak because that's bad news.
Option 2: the surgery is done via a cut in the stomach wall; the surgeon has all the tools and all the visibility in the world. Your mouth and esophagus are not going to be scratched. Sutures on the stomach wall are trivial, it's easy to see them, and if they fail they won't kill you, and they can be easily repaired.
Which one I would choose, I wonder? Is there a surgeon on /. that would volunteer a professional opinion?
Does the Japanese porn industry have one of these snakes?
The potential is limitless!
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
I'm pretty sure this premise undergirds the entirety of the Japanese pornography industry.
The surgeon manipulates the robot by pressing pedals and moving levers...
... while cackling maniacally and screaming "It's Alive!!!"
There are plenty of endoscopic surgeries already. People are attaching more actuators to the front to help with steering, but for obvious reasons, you want to keep these things as small as possible. Why you would want to shove the "robot" from the article up your behind is instead of a standard endoscope is beyond me.
I've got a biological snake that can cure cancer via natural orifices... ...if you know what I mean.
Compared to skin (heals rapidly, and can be kept clean while healing with modern methods), puncturing the alimentary canal (mouth to anus) is REALLY stupid. Bathed in dangerous chemicals, hostile bacteria (when not confined to their natural environment), and requiring tricky nutrition for the patient while healing), that is no place to be poking holes into the interior of the body (remember, topologically, it's the same as the outside).
Using the "snakes" to treat polyps, ulcers, cancers, or other issues within the alimentary canal does have some potential advantages over the combination of both puncturing the skin and the alimentary canal to reach them.
If it's got sweetcorn on it, send it back for another cleaning cycle,
Complications may necessitate conversion to "Open surgical" approaches, the traditional trans-abdominal wall lapartomy. Option 1b: surgery gets complicated, something gets ruptured (hope its not an artery) and the operation has to be converted to open laparotomy. Option 2b: laparscopic approach via small incisions in the abdominal wall gets complicated, something gets ruptured, and the operation has to be converted to open laparotomy. In either case, open laparotomy with a longer abdominal scar will be necessary. There's a lot of experience with laparoscopic approaches and with converting to open in case of emergency. There isn't much (or any) experience with trans-stomach wall for most surgeons. There have been problems with kidney and liver veins and arteries being nicked during lap. cholecystectomies (gall-bladder surgery) and even cases of kidneys being lost during trans-vaginal approaches to the abdominal cavity. The mucosal walls heal well and are less likely to be exposed to external infection, so that's one benefit; but the likelihood of other complications cannot be quantified yet. (as for mucosal walls, there are also transoral approaches to spinal surgery for the odontoid, and the pull the lips up to transect through the nose for brain surgery of the pituitary, and the oral musoca heals very well.)
What do you call a man with 20 rabbits up his bum?
Warren.
as a suffer of ulcerative colitis for years including extended hospital stays (but now 1.5 months symptom free, thank you Remicade :) ), it gets psychologically even more intense. i also had an endoscopy performed and i agree, the science of getting a tube into the stomach is basically solved (but you didnt mention if you recieved a sedative or not? i hope so!). but the colon is completely different and this is an area of research that can still be improved upon tremendously. getting something stuck into there, that to the brain seems limitless in length, is something tough to deal with psychologically. if its a dildo or whatever other object, yeah you see that it has an "end" and you can deal with it. but that tube is damn long.
i remember once i was seeing a doctor, who had a special practice with all the equipment setup to give colonoscopies, except that he didnt have the necessary sedatives, so i got one without the sedative. i think he went like 15-20 inches or so, only to the "first turn", but it was completely fucking horrible because my brain could not comprehend what was happening. he kept pumping in the gas, and you know, if his finger slips or something it could mean something serious. im not emotionally or psychologically scared or anything like that, ive had many colonscopies but they usually came with the sedative.
whatever, people can cue with the gay sex jokes ). but bowel disease, especially immflamatory bowel disease, is becoming a big issue in the west, but not something that people generally talk about so openly, obviously due to its taboo nature.
Robot snakes? Natural orifice surgery? And yet not a single post connecting that to—ahem—any tentacular references? You surprise me, Slashdot.
What exactly is natural about robot snakes up your ass ?
As a cancer survivor the surgery to remove the tumour sucked. Actually the whole experience was not great. However if they have a way of removing it without cutting me up I am all for it. One less thing to recover from! The only good thing was thank god I live in Canada. I had time off work with pay and the entire treatment was free. So while having cancer was bad at least it didn't bankrupt my family.
Was this inspired by robot scorpions in your belly-button?
Get it, it is the only thing that works.
You will be in lala-land but at least the pain will be gone.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
Have gnu, will travel.
hoping the butt snakes don't become self aware and escape into the wild.
Meanwhile seven children were killed by drone strikes last week and nobody was reported feeling queasy.
So, this is how societies fail...
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
My proctologist has been using his hose for acouple of decades and it nips small growths out of peoples. innards every day.
That was a hose. This is a snake.
Different.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
The snake can grow inside a person and when grown - go out through person's abdomen and go and fight for the world domination! For better effectivnes double-jaws are suggested as well...
Complications may necessitate conversion to "Open surgical" approaches, the traditional trans-abdominal wall lapartomy.
Option 1b: surgery gets complicated, something gets ruptured (hope its not an artery) and the operation has to be converted to open laparotomy.
Option 2b: laparscopic approach via small incisions in the abdominal wall gets complicated, something gets ruptured, and the operation has to be converted to open laparotomy.
In either case, open laparotomy with a longer abdominal scar will be necessary. There's a lot of experience with laparoscopic approaches and with converting to open in case of emergency. There isn't much (or any) experience with trans-stomach wall for most surgeons.
There have been problems with kidney and liver veins and arteries being nicked during lap. cholecystectomies (gall-bladder surgery) and even cases of kidneys being lost during trans-vaginal approaches to the abdominal cavity. The mucosal walls heal well and are less likely to be exposed to external infection, so that's one benefit; but the likelihood of other complications cannot be quantified yet. (as for mucosal walls, there are also transoral approaches to spinal surgery for the odontoid, and the pull the lips up to transect through the nose for brain surgery of the pituitary, and the oral musoca heals very well.)