Shanghai, China, 23 December 2021 — Shanghai Microport MedBot (Group) Co. Ltd. (MicroPort® MedBot®) has announced that its Madam Curie™ Fully-Automated Unmanned Surgical Platform (Madam Curie™) was used for the first time in the animal testing phase of interventional cryoablation for treating prostatic hyperplasia. This is not only an initial success for Madam Curie™ in fully-automated percutaneous puncture surgeries, but also a key milestone in automated surgery research conducted by MicroPort® MedBot®.
In this experimental animal testing of interventional cryoablation for prostatic hyperplasia, Madam Curie™ automatically, swiftly and precisely identified, outlined and segmented the prostate gland, producing important anatomical structures using AI image recognition technology. It applied 3D ultrasound-guided trajectory planning to design a safe puncture path, which automatically avoided important organs such as the pubis and urethra. During the procedure, by using the built-in cryoablation technology, Madam Curie™ performed automatic needle placement and position offset compensation based on the surgical experience database, and filtered out confounding factors. It then controlled the host computer to drive the robotic arm, ensuring precision and effectiveness of the automatic puncture and ablation. From automatic recognition and access planning to automatic treatment, Madam Curie™ performed a fully-automated procedure, which took 40 minutes in total and yielded positive results.
Dr. Chao He, President of MicroPort® MedBot®, commented, "After years of exploration and development, the initial development of the unmanned, fully-automated Madam Curie™ surgical platform has been completed. This animal testing has laid an important foundation for understanding the feasibility of fully-automated surgical technology, and for its future application in clinical practice and markets. MicroPort® MedBot® will continue to contribute to the exploration and research of cutting-edge technologies represented by fully automated surgeries, lead the development of innovative technologies of surgical robots, and benefit more patients worldwide with intelligent robotic-enabled surgical solutions and services.”
For the global surgical robot industry, unmanned and fully automated surgeries are the future and ultimate goal of robotic technology for surgery. Leveraging surgical robotics and AI technology, MicroPort® MedBot® worked independently to develop the Madame Curie™ multi-departmental, fully-automated surgical platform, which consists of three core technological systems: intelligent imaging diagnosis, intelligent path planning, and automated robotic technology for precision treatment. The Madam Curie™ uses AI image recognition to automatically segment, detect and locate surgical data (CT, MRI and other medical image data and visual images) to complete diagnosis. It also allows for automatic learning from diagnostic data and surgical databases to develop safe and efficient surgical path plans, and monitor surgical execution in real time, automatically making corrections in the process.
In addition, Madam Curie™ is able to utilize automated robotic technology to utilise planned paths and precisely control the surgical robotic arm to complete operations in a fully automated surgery. With these capabilities, Madam Curie™ is expected to solve the problem of over-reliance on doctors' experience in traditional surgeries. It allows for continuous iterative learning, to solve any technical difficulties faced by automated surgeries in terms of safety, precision and efficiency.
The interventional cryoablation for prostatic hyperplasia was the first attempt by Madam Curie™ to conduct a fully automated percutaneous puncture surgery. Following this successful experimentation, MicroPort® MedBot® will further deepen its research, improve its technical system, and expand the research and application of Madam Curie™ in the fields of laparoscopy, orthopedics, panvascular, transnatural cavity and percutaneous puncture. In doing so, it aims to promote the development of robotic technologies for fully-automated surgeries, facilitate the standardization of more surgical fields, reduce the workload of medical and nursing staff, and improve the safety and efficiency of surgery.
About Shanghai MicroPort MedBot (Group) Co., Ltd.
Shanghai MicroPort MedBot (Group) Co., Ltd is a subsidiary of MicroPort Scientific Corporation (Stock code: 00853.HK). MicroPort® started its strategic development of medical robots in 2014 and has since been engaged in independent research and development of endoscopic surgical robots. Over the years, MicroPort® MedBot® has focused on the development and commercialization of minimally invasive and noninvasive surgical robots, with integrated solutions gradually created for multiple clinical applications on five ‘golden paths,’ namely laparoscopy, orthopedics, vascular intervention, natural orifice surgery, and percutaneous puncture.