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Medical Devices in MRI
Date: 09 September 2010
New Technologies Enable MRI Guided Surgery
Even the most skilled surgeons can only
work within a limited degree of precision, and they are often
visually restricted when conducting operations below the surface of
the skin. While technological advances such as the MRI have helped
improve the doctor's ability to see into the human body, the
magnetic nature of electric motors and their metal components have
made motion impossible within the powerful magnetic field of the
MRI.
New developments in medical device design have produced machines
and robots that can perform tasks beyond the ability of a surgeon's
hands, while using the MRI to provide visual capabilities that
exceed those of the human eyes.
These revolutionary devices are designed with piezo-ceramic
motors, enabling motion within the MRI. Piezo-ceramic motors offer
considerable performance advantage over the conventional motors, as
they are made with non-magnetic materials and they do not emit any
kind of EMI/RFI.
In addition to the non-magnetic benefit of the ceramic motors,
their precision motion control abilities increase the granularity
with which a surgeon can work, from within an eighth of an inch
using the human hand, to within the width of a hair. Using the
real-time visibility into the human body provided by the MRI, these
newly designed devices enable surgeons to manipulate tools at a
microscopic scale and conduct surgeries that were previously
difficult or impossible.
One such example is the neuroArm, the world's first MRI-compatible
image-guided surgical robot capable of both microsurgery and
stereotaxy. A team of experts from the University of Calgary,
MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA), and Nanomotion Inc.
of the Johnson Medtech group conquered the hurdle of building a
machine capable of conducting microsurgical operations safely
within the strong magnetic field of an MRI system.
Using ceramic motors from Johnson Medtech's Nanomotion, the
neuroArm allows surgeons to conduct microsurgical operations in the
brain while the patient is in an MRI. The MRI helps the surgeon
manipulate surgical tools at precise and microscopic movements in
real-time resulting in a safer and more successful surgery. The
NeuroArm has 16 HR2-1-N-3 piezo-electric motors with an AB5 module
to drive the motors. There are six rotary joints and one linear
axis to which these motors are connected.
In another application, Profound Medical is using non-magnetic
motors in a medical device that treats prostate cancer. Initially
developed within the Imaging Research group at Sunnybrook Health
Sciences Centre in Toronto, Canada, this MRI-guided transurethral
ultrasound therapy is a minimally-invasive treatment for localized
prostate cancer. The ceramic motors rotate a probe that generates a
heat profile. The precise control of the rotational speed, closing
the position loop and thermal profile via the MRI, allows
healthcare professionals to completely destroy a tumor.
In the case of both the neuroArm and Profound Medical's tumor
ablation device, international teams have collaborated to overcome
the challenges of creating a motorized device that must function in
a sterile operating room, within an MRI and alongside medical
professionals involved in surgery. This combination of advanced
medical imaging and non-magnetic motion control has improved
operative medicine to enable safer, more successful surgeries for
patients around the world.
Heason Technology are the exclusive distributor and systems
integrator for Nanomotion in the UK and are actively involved in
many diverse applications implementing ceramic motor
technology.
For more information, please contact us..
Heason Technology Ltd
Unit 6 Lawson Hunt Industrial Park
Guildford Road
Broadbridge Heath
West Sussex
RH12 3JR
Tel: +44 (0) 1403 755800
Fax: +44 (0) 1403 755810
Email: sales@heason.com
Web: www.heason.com