A medical needle with AI penetrates lung tissue without surgeon involvement
Engineers have developed a robotic needle that moves inside living lungs without external control.Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have demonstrated for the first time an autonomous robotic needle capable of moving through living tissue. The device avoids anatomical obstacles to reach its target. The robot would be suitable for biopsies, drug delivery and targeted radiation therapy for cancer.
Most commercial robots that are used in surgery work by remote control. The surgeon controls every movement of such a device. An autonomous needle uses an artificial intelligence system to move through living tissue with unprecedented precision and safety.
The guided needle must bypass anatomical obstacles to reach the right point in the human body. Scientists used CT scans to create three-dimensional models of the lungs, including airways, blood vessels and the selected target. The AI uses the three-dimensional model to steer the robotic needle. The program guides it from one point to another in a way that avoids damaging important structures.
The researchers demonstrated the device working inside a live pig's lungs. This is one of the most difficult organs for such surgery: the lungs are constantly expanding and contracting during breathing. The analysis showed that the device's targeting error did not exceed the radius of clinically significant nodules in the lungs.
"The autonomous guided needle we developed is very compact, but the system is equipped with a suite of technologies that allow the device to move autonomously in real time. It's like an unmanned car, but it navigates through lung tissue, avoiding obstacles, such as important blood vessels, on its way to its destination," Ron Alterowitz, a professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and co-author of the study.
The autonomous medical robotic needle is characterized by its low invasiveness. It can be used to perform safe and precise procedures throughout the body, including biopsies, targeted drug delivery and localized radiation treatment for cancer. Engineers are planning clinical trials of the device.