International   

Robotic drill in surgery

LONDON: The world's first truly smart robotic micro-drill has been used in a surgical operation in Birmingham, the United Kingdom. The surgical drilling robot, developed by Peter Brett from the School of Engineering and Applied Science at Aston University, does not have to be programmed or made to work from a computer operated by a human. It is smart, just knows where to go and what to do, science news website AlphaGalileo reported on Thursday. The drill has been tested on patients needing cochlear implants by David Proops, ear, nose and throat consultant surgeon at University Hospital Birmingham National Health Service Foundation Trust. The drill, applied to the cochlea, the inner ear hearing organ, is aligned to the correct place and then drills a hole less than a millimetre in diameter to enable the cochlear implant to be inserted. This has never happened in medicine before. — Xinhua

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Sri Lanka denies radar system was deficient
5 soldiers, 8 civilians killed in Sri Lanka
Fresh video of captive sailor angers Britain
Six Islamist leaders hanged in Bangladesh
Nepal's interim regime to take oath today
Thai military junta faces protest
Helicopter shot down in Mogadishu
E.U. to register stem cell lines
Robotic drill in surgery
Chocolate Jesus sculpture
Faces seven-year term
Dhaka's nod for train service

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu