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MRI is usually considered an analytical tool, a method for studying the structure and dynamics of our inner selves. Now, in a twist that smacks of the world of 1960s science fiction movies, physicists in Canada have used a conventional MRI system to control the movement of a small metal bead inside a blood vessel. The demonstration could herald the emergence of a new form of surgery that uses MRI to control "untethered" devices within the body. Sylvain Martel of the NanoRobotics Laboratory of École Polytechnique de Montréal's Department of Computer Engineering and Institute of Biomedical Engineering and colleagues there and at the Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM) have achieved what is described as a major technological breakthrough in the field of medical robotics. In their experiments, they successfully guided, for the first time, microdevice within an artery using computer-controlled MRI. The team were able to move the device through the carotid artery of a live animal at a speed of 10 centimetres per second. The prototype "device" itself is simply a 1.5 millimetre ferromagnetic sphere, a tiny ball bearing, in other words, but the results bode well for creating controllable robotic devices that could deliver drugs or other agents to specific sites in the body or carry out micro surgery within the cardiovascular system or organs. "Injection and control of nanorobots inside the human body, which contains almost 100,000 kilometres of blood vessels, is a promising avenue that could enable interventional medicine to target sites that so far have remained inaccessible using modern medical instruments such as catheters," Martel explains, "We have begun developing several types of micro- and nano-devices for novel applications, such as targeted delivery of medications to tumour sites and diagnoses using navigable biosensors." The team at the Polytechnique NanoRobotics Laboratory are currently working to further reduce the size of the devices so that, within a few years, they can navigate inside smaller blood vessels. They have applied for patents on their method of real-time monitoring and guidance for such devices and are working with industrial backer Gestion Univalor, LP to commercialise the system. Related links:
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Martel and colleagues taking MRI on a fantastic voyage MRI guides a metal bead through a blood vessel |
