Robot Performs Prostate Surgery Inside an MRI

the_newsbeagle writes: Researchers have developed a non-metallic robot with ceramic piezoelectric motors that functions inside an MRI machine, allowing surgeons to perform procedures guided by real-time imaging. It's now being tested in prostate biopsies. Doctors say this system will let them aim their needles more precisely and reduce the number of times they stick them in. The NIH thinks such systems could come in handy for neurosurgery too. Gregory Fischer, a professor of mechanical engineering at WPI whose Automation and Interventional Medicine Robotics Lab led the research says: "You can bring it into any MRI room and have it up and running in an hour. It can locate the target, track the needle, and if it deflects during insertion, it can steer the needle to hit the target. We’re taking baby steps to get the robot into clinical use."

Comments

No fun on the receiving end

[mnemotronic]

I had one (prostate biopsy) about 10 yrs ago. The doc that ordered it did so because of a single elevated PSA. No robots, no MRI, just a doctor and nurse with an ultrasound machine and a tube up my butt. They moved the tube guided by the ultrasound image. press a button and it shoots a hollow needle through the colon wall into the prostrate. Basically, core drilling into body parts. Hurts like hell. Retrieve the needle with sample, put new needle into machine, lather, rinse, repeat. Blood in my piss and come for a week. Diagnosis was BPH. I cant see how robots and being confined to an MRI will make it any more effective or painless; just more expensive.