26/09/2023
A groundbreaking robotic system developed by a research team led by Dr. Pierre Dupont, Chief of Pediatric Cardiac Bioengineering at Boston Children’s Hospital, is designed to perform brain tumor removal surgeries on children.
This robot utilizes pre-curved nitinol tubes, providing surgeons with more space and flexibility during the procedure. It aims to enhance the precision and stability of brain surgeries, particularly in pediatric cases.
Dr. Dupont’s team is exploring the commercialization of this technology, with potential applications in adult surgeries, but further development and human trials are required.
“We needed to use basically hollow arms,” DuPont explained. “There were a few technologies that would give you that: tendon actuation like in steerable catheters, the same technology that’s used in robotic bronchoscopes. And then there’s another technology — concentric tube robots, which is something that I developed when I was at Boston University, and also other folks have worked on it in a contemporaneous fashion.”
