China creates tiny worm-like robot to crawl into people’s BRAINS – and claim it could save 750,000 lives a year

CHINA has built a sophisticated magnetic robot that could revolutionise brain surgeries and save thousands of lives.

Chinese scientists claim “microfibrebot” can reduce the risk of brain aneurysm bleeds and “starve” brain tumours forcing them to shrink.

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Brain aneurysms and tumours are some of the leading causes of death worldwide – and require extensive and complicated procedures for treatments

More than 750,000 people die every year, either from life-threatening conditions or procedural complications.

One of the first steps taken by doctors to treat such diseases is cutting the blood flow by inserting a thin tube into the target area and sealing off blood vessels.

This method, however, is limited due to the “poor stability and steerability” of the tube inserted into the brain, experts have argued in a paper published by Science Robotics.

They said it also exposes surgeons to radiation for long periods as the procedure is performed manually under an X-ray.

We envisage that our magnetic soft microfibrebots will pave the way for the untethered robotic embolisation of cerebral aneurysms and brain tumours in the future

Chinese Researchers

To address these issues, a team of scientists from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei, and Shanghai Jiao Tong University have designed and developed a magnetically controlled worm-like robot that could crawl into human brains and carry out the task more efficiently.

The tiny robot – just about half a millimetre, can change size by elongating or contracting – and can be steered up and down using magnetic fields.

Its coiled shape will allow for more control and accuracy than other conventional methods used to treat these conditions

To maximise clinical effectiveness, the microfibrebot will be put inside the brain using a catheter, from where it will crawl into the targeted blood vessels.

It can then be steered by doctors who would be able to monitor its movement using X-ray imaging.

Melisa Yashinski, the associate editor of the journal, wrote: “The microfibrebot, composed of a magnetised fibre coiled into a helix shape, can conform to different vessel sizes and performs corkscrew propulsion when subjected to an external magnetic field.

“These proposed robots provide a controllable alternative to conventional catheter-based embolisation.”

Once the robot is at the target, it can perform embolisation to reduce bleeding from aneurysms.

And to treat brain tumours, the sophisticated bots can send particles into a vessel branch to “starve the tumour for accelerated removal”.

Cutting off blood flow to a tumour causes it to stop growing – and can even shrink the tumour by killing cells, according to the paper.

While testing on a model vessel system, the developing team found that these robots had a particle-blocking percentage of up to 88 per cent.

The robots were also tested on the hind legs of rabbits where the robots continued to block blood flow and tests on the rabbit organs found “no inflammation or pathological abnormalities”.

While researchers have cautioned that the robot is still in its early stages of development, they concluded that the robot has extreme potential to revolutionise brain surgeries.

“We envisage that our magnetic soft microfibrebots will pave the way for the untethered robotic embolisation of cerebral aneurysms and brain tumours in the future,” the researchers said.

This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk