Robot to replace biopsy surgery

2003-10-06 14:16

Naples - A minuscule "millipede robot", to be swallowed with a glass of water, will soon replace biopsy surgery, researchers in Italy were quoted as saying on Monday.

Professor Paolo Dario of Italy and Mark Oliver Schurr of Germany made the announcement during a gathering of surgeons in Naples on Sunday.

The robot is called "Emil" - an acronym for Endoscopic Microcapsule Locomotion - and measures three centimetres in length.

Once swallowed by a patient, it slowly reaches the intestine by mimicking movements made by a millipede. Equipped with a micro-camera and a minuscule scalpel, it is operated by remote control and needs no batteries.

Doctors plan to use it to take tissue samples and even perform small acts of surgery in difficult-to-reach internal organs.

"This is an entirely innovative method," Professor Schurr told La Repubblica. "Emil is not attached to any wires, it moves around on its own and can be operated by remote control without neither cables nor batteries," he said.

The robot, which once used is ejected through the faeces, has yet to be tested in humans. But researchers plan to start utilising it within a year.

Its main use will be in colon cancer prevention, researchers said. - Sapa-dpa

- SAPA