The world's smallest and most accurate 3-D-printed biopsy robot was revealed last week.
A new robot named Stormram 4 that is made entirely from 3-D-printed plastic and is driven by air pressure. The advantage of plastic is that the robot can be used in an MRI scanner. Carrying out a biopsy (removing a piece of tissue) during a breast cancer scan in an MRI significantly increases accuracy. The robot won a prestigious award during the Surgical Robotic Challenge at the international Hamlyn Symposium in London: one of the world's most important events in the field of robotic surgery. The Stormram 4 is a stimulus for the entire diagnostic phase of breast cancer; the accurate needle control, effectively real-time MRI scanning and a single, thin-needle biopsy enable quicker and more accurate diagnoses to be made. Medical robotics is sure to become standard procedure in hospitals in the near future.
Robotic surgery is fascinating: as the method is minimally invasive, it allows patients to recover faster, and typically have less post-operative pain and scarring.
A biopsy consists of the medical removal of tissue from a person, to determine the presence, or extent, of a disease, like cancer; the tissue is then examined under a microscope by a pathologist. Breast cancer, which is the most common form of cancer in women, can be diagnosed by inserting the biopsy needle into a patient’s breast and taking a sample from the abnormal tissue (lesion); this is typically referred to as a needle aspiration biopsy.
No invasive surgery Accurate navigation of the biopsy needle is of crucial importance in combating breast cancer and other forms of cancer. Through the use of special needles, the tip of which can be very hot (thermal ablation) or very cold (cryoablation), it is possible to destroy tumour cells close to the tip of the needle. This enables the treatment of cancer without the need for invasive surgical procedures.
Stormram 4
The Stormram 4 is driven by rectilinear and curved air-pressure motors. The robot is controlled from outside the MRI scanner by means of 5-metre-long air pipes. The design is smaller than the previous version, enabling it to fit inside the MRI scanner's narrow tunnel.
Robotics is the solution
MRI scanners are the answer when it comes to the extremely accurate detection and visualisation of the location of abnormal tissue. Unfortunately, it is not possible to make full use of this accuracy as long as needles are controlled by hand. Robotics offers the solution. Not all robots can be used in combination with MRI scanners. Robots are often made of metal, a material that cannot be used in the strong magnetic fields of MRI scanners. For this reason, the UT, in collaboration with Ziekenhuis Groep Twente (ZGT), has made the robot entirely of plastic.
The team’s Stormram 4 robot recently competed in the Surgical Robotic Challenge, and came away with an important award, at the international Hamlyn Symposium in London, which is one of the most important events in the world when it comes to robotic surgery. MRI scanners offer very accurate detection and visualization of abnormal tissue, and you can’t start treating a disease until you know for sure that it’s there and how far it’s spread. Plastic medical robots, like the Stormram 4, offer mechanical accuracy that doesn’t miss, and are not an issue for the powerful scanning machines. With any luck, this kind of medical robot will soon become a mainstay in hospitals around the world.
See StormRam4 in action