Hanyang University announced that Professor Jang Gun-hee's team at Hanyang University’s School of Mechanical Engineering succeeded in remote vascular intervention using micro-robots in animal experiments on March 15. As a result, the possibility of robotic remote procedures for vascular disease, the world's No. 1 cause of death, is expected to increase.

Vascular interventional therapy is a procedure in which medical staff directly check the patient's blood vessels with X-rays and push guide wires and tube-shaped catheters into the blood vessels at the lesion. However, the medical staff is seriously exposed to X-ray radiation and the procedure is long and complicated because the lesion at the complex vessels is treated solely depending on the senses of the fingertip. 

Various research teams around the world has developed magnetic robots that can move inside blood vessels and magnetic navigation systems to control them as an alternative to vascular interventional therapy. However, magnetic navigation system cannot generate enough magnetic fields to move the magnetic robot, as well as robot's therapeutic functions are restricted. 

The magnetic navigation system "I-RAMAN (robotically assisted magnetic navigation system)" developed by Professor Jang's research team can generate the world's best magnetic field, which is lighter and thus can be transported. With introduction of robot arm structure, it can be customized according to the patient's lesion, and it is compatible with commercial X-ray equipment used in actual hospitals.

In addition, the research team's magnetic robot can perform various therapeutic functions such as intravascular movement, tunneling of lesions, remote stent delivery, and drug delivery, so it has excellent medical effectiveness.

Professor Jang's research team successfully conducted eight animal experiments between 2021 and 2022, from procedures such as inserting their magnetic robot into blood vessels to safely recovering the lesion after treatment.

This technology is expected to be expanded to treat various human diseases such as capsule endoscopy, cerebral aneurysm treatment, and cardiac arrhythmia treatment in the future.

Professor Jang said, "I-RAMAN and magnetic robots are leading technologies in the field," adding, "We will change the paradigm of vascular interventional therapy by cooperating with professional medical staff such as cardiology and radiology."

This study, supported by the Korea Health Industry Development Institutes, were published in the March issue of IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters and were introduced in IEEE Spectrum, an international academic news, on March 7 (https://spectrum.ieee.org/mini-robot-surgeon) ). In addition, Professor Jang's research team plans to submit an exploratory clinical trial plan to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety for exploratory clinical trials.