Tiny telerobotic system to improve bladder cancer treatment

| | Health Imaging | Oncology Imaging

Researchers at Vanderbilt and Columbia Universities are working on a system to view and treat bladder tumors that could eventually make an uncomfortable procedure both more tolerable and easier to perform.

Led by Nabil Simaan, PhD, associate professor of mechanical engineering at Vanderbilt, the team has developed a telerobotic system featuring a segmented robotic arm with a light source, optical fiber laser for cauterization, a fiberscope for observation and a forceps for gripping tissue. At just 5.5 millimeters in diameter, the system is designed to replace the rigid resectoscopes traditionally used in transurethral resection—an instrument Simaan described as “crude.”

You can read more about the system on Vanderbilt’s website and see it in use in the video below:

 

Via Vanderbilt University

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