Brain Surgery

The NeuroArm is a surgical robot that can perform neurosurgery inside an MRI. I already mentioned this new technology in a previous post. Researchers have successfully used this robot to remove a woman's brain tumor. This device could also potentially be used as a safer method of introducing deep brain stimulation implants into the brain. As I mentioned previously, the death rate of neurosurgery can be relatively high. So this robot neurosurgery device would likely reduce the risk of any such occurance.

In other news, the associated press is reporting about the success that doctors have had using deep brain stimulation in treating depression.

Still, the early results are promising. Dramatic video shows one patient visibly brightening as doctors turn on her brain pacemaker and she says in surprise: "I'm starting to smile."

You can watch an interesting short video about the neuroarm below.

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.