Medical Snake RobotGeneral Description:
In order to overcome the limitations of currently available assistive technologies for
minimally invasive cardiac surgery (MICS), we develop and tested a first prototype based
on an innovative approach of a highly articulated robotic probe (HARP). We hypothesize
that, for procedures involving epicardial interventions on the beating heart, MICS can be
effectively realized with the HARP, entering the pericardial cavity through a subxiphoid
port, reaching remote intrapericardial locations on the epicardium without causing
hemodynamic and electrophysiologic interference, attaching to the target surface, and
delivering therapeutic interventions under the direct control of the surgeon. We strongly
believe that HARP’s functionality will eventually lead to application such as multiple
intrapericardial therapies (e.g. cell transplantation by intramyocardial injection,
epicardial ablation, epicardial lead placement for resynchronization, etc). Our broad,
long-term objective is to fulfill our group’s “epicardial frontier” vision, enabling a
growing portfolio of epicardial therapies by developing and testing new dedicated
innovative robotic technology. We envision the adoption of HARP-based intrapericardial
therapies not only by minimally invasive cardiac surgeons, but also by interventional
cardiologists and electrophysiologists.
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