German surgeons say they are the first to undertake fully robot-supported microsurgical operations on human patients.
So far five procedures have been performed on patients in Münster – with the surgeon working in a room separate to the operating theatre.
The system in use reduces the surgeon’s movements by a scale of up to 20, allowing microsurgery on blood vessels, nerves and lymphatic vessels. Surgeons say they have used it for breast reconstruction and tissue transplants.
Plastic surgeon Tobias Hirsch said the system offered hugely improved ergonomics.
He said: “This in turn protects us from fatigue, and that means that our concentration can be maintained over a period of many hours. In initial studies involving the systems, before they were used in operations, we were already able to confirm the positive effects on the quality of operations and on ergonomics.”
Dr Maximilian Kückelhaus, from the Centre for Musculoskeletal Medicine at the University of Münster, said: “This new method for operations enables us to work with a much higher degree of delicacy and precision than is possible with conventional operating techniques.
“As a result, less tissue is destroyed and patients recover faster.”
Meanwhile British engineers are developing microbot “swarms” that can be used to clean shunts within the bodies of patients, it has been announced.
The microbots consist of magnetic nanoparticles, controlled with a magnetic field.
Developers at the University of Essex report a successful “proof of concept” procedure.
Microrobotics expert Dr Ali Hoshiar said: “The non-invasive nature of this method is a considerable advantage to existing methods as it will potentially eliminate the risk of surgery and a surgery-related infection, thereby decreasing recovery time.”
A novel non-invasive intervention for removing occlusions from shunts using an abrading magnetic microswarm. *IEEE Transaction on Biomedical Engineering* 21 July 2022
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