2008 Woodie Awards
New robot diagnoses and treats breast cancer more efficiently
By: U- WIRE
Issue date: 10/13/08 Section: Campus
For University of Maryland mechanical engineering professor Jaydev Desai, breast cancer awareness is more than a month-long endeavor.
Though October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Desai has spent the past year and a half developing a robot that can perform biopsies and destroy tumor cells all in one session, making the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer less time-consuming and more accurate than ever before.
"[People] will be excited," Desai said. "It will revolutionize how procedures are performed for breast cancer diagnosis and treatment."
After a tumor is located on an MRI, the robot will perform a biopsy of the breast while the patient is inside the scanner. This way, the doctor who controls the robot can see where the tumor is located during the procedure.
If the biopsy displays cancerous cells, the robot will then insert a probe into the breast until it reaches the tumor. The probe will then burn the cancer cells until they are destroyed. This entire process is conducted while the patient is inside the MRI scanner, so the doctor controlling the robot can more specifically target the cells.
With the robot, the three months between mammogram and treatment can be reduced to a hospital visit and the cancer can be stopped before it spreads, said Rao Gullapalli, a collaborator on this project from the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore.
But what makes the robot stand out is its ability to work inside an MRI machine, Gullapalli said. Because it is made of titanium and stainless steel, the robot won't be disrupted by the scanner's magnetic field.
The robot can also access areas in the human body that surgeons can't, said mechanical engineering graduate student Kevin Lister, who worked on the project with Desai.
Desai said he and his team have built only a preliminary model so far; not a fully functional one. The final version of the robot will take about four years to complete, he said. He received a $1.27 million grant last month from the National Institute of Health.
But even if the finished product does work according to plan, Gullapalli said it might not find immediate success in the medical community. After all, the robot will have to go through FDA approval, follow guidelines and prove it makes a big difference before it is widely used.
"We're not just governed by technology," Gullapalli said. "We're governed by bureaucracy as well."
Though October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Desai has spent the past year and a half developing a robot that can perform biopsies and destroy tumor cells all in one session, making the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer less time-consuming and more accurate than ever before.
"[People] will be excited," Desai said. "It will revolutionize how procedures are performed for breast cancer diagnosis and treatment."
After a tumor is located on an MRI, the robot will perform a biopsy of the breast while the patient is inside the scanner. This way, the doctor who controls the robot can see where the tumor is located during the procedure.
If the biopsy displays cancerous cells, the robot will then insert a probe into the breast until it reaches the tumor. The probe will then burn the cancer cells until they are destroyed. This entire process is conducted while the patient is inside the MRI scanner, so the doctor controlling the robot can more specifically target the cells.
With the robot, the three months between mammogram and treatment can be reduced to a hospital visit and the cancer can be stopped before it spreads, said Rao Gullapalli, a collaborator on this project from the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore.
But what makes the robot stand out is its ability to work inside an MRI machine, Gullapalli said. Because it is made of titanium and stainless steel, the robot won't be disrupted by the scanner's magnetic field.
The robot can also access areas in the human body that surgeons can't, said mechanical engineering graduate student Kevin Lister, who worked on the project with Desai.
Desai said he and his team have built only a preliminary model so far; not a fully functional one. The final version of the robot will take about four years to complete, he said. He received a $1.27 million grant last month from the National Institute of Health.
But even if the finished product does work according to plan, Gullapalli said it might not find immediate success in the medical community. After all, the robot will have to go through FDA approval, follow guidelines and prove it makes a big difference before it is widely used.
"We're not just governed by technology," Gullapalli said. "We're governed by bureaucracy as well."
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