Robotic Arm for Neurosurgery

"The world’s first MRI-compatible image-guided surgical robot capable of both microsurgery and stereotaxy. Actuators that utilize revolutionary ceramic motors designed by Nanomotion of the Johnson Medtech network enable the neuroArm to safely operate within an MRI to provide surgeons with unprecedented detail and control." PR (pdf)

This robotic neurosurgeon device is called Neuroarm. You can watch a video about this technology here. According to the website about it, the average neurosurgeon has an accuracy level of approximately 1 millimeter in the brain. This robot, however, has an accuracy of 30 microns (micron is 1/1000 of a meter). So this robotic Neuroarm is quite a big improvement over a standard human operator. It sounds like the controller for this robot arm can eliminate any tremor in the neurosurgeons hand. It can also be used inside an MRI, which is a huge plus. MRI's have powerful magnetic fields and a fairly enclosed space. This can make it difficult to do conventional neurosurgery in them. However, this new robotic device appears to have circumvented that and will allow neurosurgeons to use MRI imaging to precisely perform brain surgery on a subject.

With conventional stereostatic neurosurgery, implanting a deep brain stimulation device in the brain has a mortality rate of about 0.4%. So 4 out of 1000 people die as the result of having that particular surgery. This is a fairly high mortality rate and is quite a risky procedure for the average person. I would expect this new robotic arm would significantly reduce the risk of death for neurosurgery and make the option of deep brain stimulation much more feasible for common brain disorders. In the future, this device may also be used to implant stem cells in the brain to improve a myriad number of disorders.