The world’s first approved cerebrovascular robot could reduce harmful radiation exposure for surgeons while shortening procedure times.
Chinese researchers have developed a surgical robot that can perform complex brain imaging nearly 30% faster than traditional manual methods, according to a study published earlier this year.
In a head-to-head at the Peking Union Medical College Hospital (PUMCH), a young surgeon using the robotic system shaved nine minutes off the time required for a standard manual procedure.
Lead author Dr Zhao Yuanli wrote in the study published in the Chinese Neurosurgical Journal: ‘Preliminary clinical application shows that the YDHB-NS01 robot-assisted system is feasible for diagnostic cerebral angiography and shows early indications of safety and comparable procedural performance to conventional manual methods.’
Cerebral vascular imaging is essential for the treatment of many brain diseases, but it is a difficult procedure for both patient and surgeon. In conventional methods, the neurologist must manually thread a thin guide wire from a patient’s thigh to the brain’s blood vessels under X-ray fluoroscopy.
Manual surgery has inherent limitations: hands inevitably tremble, and the heavy lead gowns and collars worn for radiation protection increase physical strain.
Long-term radiation exposure also poses health risks to doctors.
The robotic system avoids these issues. It operates stably with no mechanical or system failures.
Operators have reported smooth catheter and guide-wire delivery, stable manipulator fixation, responsive control handles and good force feedback.
In their study, Zhao and his team found that with robotic assistance and just two training sessions, the same operator improved the safety and reliability of the procedure while reducing surgical time by 29% – from an average of 38 minutes to 27 minutes.
From May to August last year, 25 patients underwent robot-assisted cerebral angiography, while another 25 underwent manual angiography performed by the same operator during the same period at PUMCH.
Both procedures were performed by the same young neurosurgeon, who had less than three years of independent experience in neurovascular angiography.
For manual procedures, he wore a lead apron. He worked directly in the radiation environment, whereas in robot-assisted procedures, he operated via a screen and a remote manipulator from an adjacent room.
Zhao said: ‘No differences were observed between the two groups in fluoroscopy time, patient radiation dose, contrast agent dose or total angiography room time.’
The YDHB-NS01 system was developed domestically and produced in the northern province of Hebei. It is China’s first approved vascular intervention robot and the world’s first approved cerebrovascular intervention robot.
