British surgeons used a robot to perform eye surgery. Thanks to the precision of this technology, scientists were able to remove a thin membrane of about a hundredth of a millimeter from the retina. This procedure was carried out at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, UK. At the end of this operation, the patient, Father William Beaver, 70 years old, regained his sight.
This procedure was necessary because the patient had an extra membrane on the surface of his retina a hundredth of a millimeter thick which was obscuring his vision. It had to be removed without damaging the retina.
“With a robotic system, we are opening a new chapter in eye operations that currently cannot be performed by humans,” says Professor Robert MacLaren on The Guardian website.
A future-proof solution for the treatment of blindness
This robotic eye surgery clinical trial includes 12 patients undergoing increasingly complex operations. In the first part of the test, the robot is used to peel the membranes at the margin of the retina without damaging it.
If the first phase is successful, the second step of the test will assess how the robot can place a fine needle under the retina to inject fluid into it.
“This could lead to the use of the robot in retinal gene therapy and for The stem cells which must be inserted under the retina with a high degree of precision. The robot would allow the development of a new treatment for blindness which is currently being tested in a number of centers around the world, ”concluded Professor Robert MacLaren.
Read also:
A robot to support children with cancer
Childhood diabetes: Charlie, a robot who accompanies the sick
Robots will soon replace surgeons in the United States