Robot system using 3D images promises less invasive surgery

Keywords: Robots, 3D, Image processing

A robot system for brain surgery developed by Japan's Hitachi Ltd working with Japan's Toshiba Corp, NHK Engineering Services and doctors from Tokyo Women's Medical College and Shinshu University, is described as "a new surgical-robot system that can excise brain tumours and perform other types of brain surgery with just a small incision, thus putting less of a burden on a patient." The system uses a set of three remote-control robot arms together with fibre-optic endoscopes to view the inside of a body and a computer to process the data from the endoscopes and generate a 3D image of the disease site for the surgeon to watch while operating.

The extremity of each robot arm sharpens down to a very fine tip and this is inserted into the body via a tube that also holds a fibre-optic endoscope. The robot arm tips can hold miniature surgical tools such as scissors and forceps which the surgeon can manipulate while viewing the 3D images captured by the endoscope. The tube containing the robot arm and endoscope can be inserted into the body through a hole just 1cm in diameter. Surgery for a brain tumour normally requires an opening of around 10cm so the new system promises to be much less invasive. The system, too, has shown itself to be more accurate than conventional surgery, whether the surgeon is left- or right-handed. Surgeons say they can view details on the screen which they would have trouble seeing with the naked eye, and they can use the system with high precision, reducing the risk of accidentally damaging tissue and creating post-surgery problems.

Europe leads in surgical robot development, with use of equipment approved in Germany already, while the USA are proceeding with clinical trials. Now Japan with its long history of expertise in robot technologies, is making significant progress and presence in the burgeoning field.