A gastroenterologist will be helped by a robot
The robot will be able to make colonoscopy more comfortable for the patient
Pietro Valdastri from the University of Leeds and his colleagues have created a robotic arm that uses a machine learning algorithm to move a flexible probe with an endoscope through the colon. The creators believe that their robot will be able to make the colonoscopy procedure less unpleasant for patients.
Conventional endoscopes used nowadays for colonoscopy are difficult to operate and require well-trained specialists. "Gastroenterologists often lose track of where the top, bottom, left and right are," says Valdastri. The robot controls the endoscope using an external magnet. The system can operate autonomously or be controlled by an operator using a joystick. It tracks the position and orientation of the probe inside the intestine.
The robot uses artificial intelligence that has been trained on images of the inner surface of the colon. "The algorithm looks for a black circle in the middle of the image," says Valdastri. "This black circle shows the direction where the tip of the instrument should be oriented."
The researchers successfully tested this method on an artificial colon, as well as on two pigs. They believe that the procedure with magnetic control can be less painful for the patient than a conventional colonoscopy, and can be applied without the use of sedatives. Next year, the team plans to test this procedure on five healthy volunteers. If successful, it will be used to perform colonoscopy in patients with inflammatory bowel disease.
A description of the development was published in the journal Nature Machine Intelligence (Martin et al., Enabling the future of colonoscopy with intelligent and autonomous magnetic manipulation).
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