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One of the holy grails of robotic surgery is the ability to perform minimally invasive procedures guided by real-time scans from a magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, machine. The problem is the space inside MRI scanners is tight for a person, let alone a person and a robot. What's more, these machines use very strong magnetic fields, so metal is not a good thing to place inside of them, a restriction that is certainly a problem for robots.
Now researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) are developing a MRI-compatible robotic surgery tool that can overcome those limitations. Their system isn't made of metal, but instead has plastic parts and ceramic piezoelectric motors that allow it to work safely inside an MRI.
That area is uncomfortably near other important organs. Let's hope the scale on the monitor is 1:1...
Original Submission
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday July 10 2015, @03:32PM
I was getting ready for work, and had to put off reading it. But, the wife and I agreed instantly that it's awesome. We've both lost family members who might have lived for years, if the doctors had something like this to work with. Does it need to be pointed out how useful this little bot will be in other procedures? Heart bypass surgery is almost routine these days. Just think what this little precision instrument can do for those people. No more gaping wounds across the chest, so the doctor has room to work. Traumatic injuries too - put the victim in the MRI, read the results, and give the bot directions. I can imagine a bot pulling a bullet our through the same channel the bullet created on entry, instead of chopping up more good tissue for extraction.
Just awesome.
I need to invest my paltry savings into this thing.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 10 2015, @04:17PM
I can imagine a bot pulling a bullet our through the same channel the bullet created on entry, instead of chopping up more good tissue for extraction.
I think you're not thinking clearly. Most bullets are made of metal. People with metal stuff in them shouldn't even be going near an MRI.
Same for some trauma victims. You don't want to have the MRI rip a small piece of car all the way through the victim.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday July 10 2015, @04:28PM
Do we really need real time scans for a robot to pull out a bullet?
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(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday July 11 2015, @01:00AM
In most cases - no, we don't. But, the whole point of the article is, the robot is precise. It stabs those needles precisely where they need to be, first time, every time. The side benefit of that is, the time element. Robot gets the bullet without any guesswork - in fact, it gets all the fragments without any exploratory surgery involved. Doc doesn't have to search anymore, he can see every fragment before he even starts treating the victim. The robot doesn't even have to guess at which way to reach into the victim to avoid damaging the nearby artery, as the human surgeon has to do. In fact, with real time imaging, the robot can know which way to turn the fragment, so that the sharp edges of the fragment don't cause more damage as it is extracted.
So, the robot with real time scanning works faster, more efficiently, and causes less peripheral damage while performing the necessary tasks. You tell me - do we need it?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by jcross on Friday July 10 2015, @06:48PM
Isn't the problem just ferromagnetic metals? Do bullets have iron in them?
I imagine the MRI machine itself has lots of metal parts, but they're probably copper and such. I hear you on the metal-in-the-patient issue, though. I used to work in a machine shop and for that reason I never want to go into an MRI if I can help it, in case there are still some bits of steel in my eyes or something. It's kind of horrific to think about what might happen.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday July 10 2015, @08:13PM
Bingo. Most piezoelectric ceramics [wikipedia.org] in use today have a significant amount of lead in them, so much that health and environmental precautions like Hazmat disposal and dust masks are used when working with them. I know this because piezoelectric transducers with lead in their composition are used as SONAR transducers because the piezoelectric effect is bidirectional, so that an element can not only transmit but receive close to its center frequency (although many sonars use separate transmit/receive arrays).
But a quick disclaimer - my materials science and chemistry knowledge sucks ass so I can't explain when metal alloys become ceramics or gemstones or whatnot, so this would be a good place for somebody who can elaborate to do so.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday July 11 2015, @12:53AM
I think you're right. The only metals I've ever seen in bullets are lead, and copper, except the military. Steel is associated with armor piercing rounds, not commonly in use by sportsmen or muggers on the street, or even by the police.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 11 2015, @03:20AM
There are enough bullets with steel in them out there for me not to assume it'll be OK: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5.56%C3%9745mm_NATO#Performance [wikipedia.org]
It's not always easy to figure out whether something inside a patient is ferromagnetic or not.
And even if it's non magnetic if you're unlucky enough that the conductive metal is in a "right shape" it might absorb the RF energy and heat up: http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-642-13039-7_255 [springer.com]
http://www.biomedical-engineering-online.com/content/7/1/11 [biomedical-engineering-online.com]
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Friday July 10 2015, @05:39PM
> I need to invest my paltry savings into this thing.
You will, if you live in the US. As soon as they use one on you, you'll have to sell your house, your car, and probably at least one child.