AIIMS (All India Institute of Medical Sciences) has a robot doc that helps real doctors cure patients with issues relating to brain diseases. Recently cured, 23 year old Sumeet Mukherjee, had severe uncontrolled epileptic seizures that wouldn’t let him sleep. The doctors at AIIMS used the help of the medical robot that spotted the area concerned in his brain.
30 Second Window:
- The brain robot installed at AIIMS guides neurosurgeons to the precise location of the concerned area in the brain.
- The robot also helps in implanting electrodes in the brain using electric signals thereby helping doctors to identify the focus area and remove the malignant area.
- Robots have been in use in India for nearly a decade to operate on patients with urological, gynaecological and cardiac problems. This is the first time, however, they had never been used in brain surgeries.
Robots For Thought:
- A conventional robot has three arms—one for carrying the camera and the other two to carry necessary instruments.
- A brain robot has only one arm. In case of conventional robots, surgeons direct the robotic arms to perform the job whereas in case of brain robots, a surgery is performed by doctors themselves.
- The robot only guides them in planning the surgery and to reach the precise location. However, many doctors claim that it would only take a few more years before robots start performing surgeries on their own.
We thought technology had advanced a lot, but this really takes the cake!
